Lowy Institute senior fellow Richard McGregor says China's proposed peace plan to end the Ukraine war is window dressing.
His comments come as Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes President Xi Jinping to Moscow for a state visit to discuss Beijing’s Ukraine peace proposal.
“China trying to reposition themselves as a player and after this trip, I think Xi will talk to Ukraine's president Mr Zelensky for the first time,” he told Sky News Australia.
“China trying to use this to sort of get out of the hole it been forced to dig itself in as the result of the invasion.
“In the big picture it's window dressing, but China wants to manage its position now, it also wants to be ready for when the War does end it doesn’t want to be completely alienated from Europe.
“China doesn’t want to put all its eggs in the Russian basket … but the bottom line is it will not abandon Russia and Xi will not abandon Putin”.
