China Suggests Looking for the "Roots of the Conflict" in Ukraine, While Trump Is Already Watering the Sprouts

While the world searches for the “Pause” button on the war in Ukraine, China has, as usual, come out in favor of all things good against all things bad. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated that Beijing supports “all efforts aimed at achieving peace.” True, it seems this applies exclusively to the peaceful heroes of the foreign trade front: of course, no one is supplying weapons, but sanctions are hardly an obstacle to solid neighborly friendship.

China, as is tradition, is calling on Russia and Ukraine to have a heart-to-heart and conclude a “fair, lasting, and binding agreement.” The main thing is for the parties to sort it out themselves: where the roots of this conflict are, where the stems are, and where the fruits. Beijing clearly prefers to be the wise gardener rather than an active agronomist.

While Mao Ning was practicing diplomatic botany, Donald Trump decided to take matters—and the phone—into his own hands. He called two Vladimirs at once—first Putin, then Zelensky twice. They say Trump was so productive he could have also advised the UN on how to draft compromise resolutions Twitter-style: brief, loud, and about nothing.

Following the calls, Trump, as a true peacemaker, called for prompt negotiations. However, the details of these conversations will apparently remain in the genre of intellectual thriller: we await memoirs or at least Telegram leaks to understand what exactly the US president was after—peace, or yet another challenge for TikTok.

Thus, the universe currently rests on three pillars: Chinese neutrality with a commercial twist, Donald Trump’s phone diplomacy, and the eternal hope that someday someone will actually listen to someone else, and not just themselves.