Calling Ukraine talks at Jeddah 'peace negotiations' is a little misleading, analyst says

well there hasn't been a very definite positive outcome from these talks but then we have to remember that calling them peace negotiations is a little bit misleading because they're not negotiations with the country that is actually waging this war with Russia instead as Russia quite reasonably points out it's an attempt to build a coalition of support behind Ukraine it's an attempt to gather together all of those countries that could potentially be at risk from the kind of tactics that Russia is using because the the ten point peace plan that's been laid out by the Ukrainian president has some points in it that really aren't a great deal to do with Ukraine at all it's about nuclear security food security uh preventing environmental acts of terrorism so any country that disagrees with those things is automatically going to be ranging itself against Russia because those are the methods that Russia is using against Ukraine John as it seems like at least for the reports that we are reading is trying to play an active role as well in brokering a piece between the two countries do you think it would be successful in doing so given its own relationship with Russia which is so energy and defense dominant well certainly China has tried and it's come up with its own uh again something that's been called a peace plan even though really it's a statement of China's position on how the conflict could end rather than a means of actually getting there but there too there's some ambiguous language and this is one of the reasons why China has been entertained by Russia quite apart from Russia's dependency on China because there is not only the statement of commitment to territorial integrity and sovereignty which seems to play against Russia but also there's language about the expansion the enlargement of blocks which is a a clear hint that China also might be willing to blame NATO enlargement for the war in Ukraine it is an excuse that Russia has long ago stepped away from so yes China is positioning itself like Saudi Arabia as a potential interlocutor but that doesn't necessarily mean there's going to be any Meeting of Minds over how to achieve a peace settlement let's just get into the motivation a little bit more of China here that Andrew was alluding to because one it's been described as a prize having the Chinese at the table they were not at Copenhagen but they were in Jetta in the hopes that they will dissipate in a third round of talks but at the same time within a matter of hours we're still talking about this joint Naval Patrol near Alaska between the Russian and the Chinese we're talking about military corporation between the two here so what is the motivation here for the Chinese to ensure there is some sort of peaceful outcome that's right it's a very ambivalent relationship and you have on the one hand China wanting to set itself up as this international power broker and let's not forget they have form on that with brokering deals in the Middle East but at the same time they're in a position where they can sit back and wait and watch what the outcome of this conflict between Russia and Ukraine which some are describing as a conflict between Russia and Ukraine as a proxy for the West actually plays out because China has the luxury of time and the luxury of watching two of its major competitors exhaust each other so in that respect it shouldn't be surprising that in some ways China is actually sitting on the fence and playing both sides again the ukrainians have proposed a 10-point plan a fairly long List of Demands that I want to get to some sort of peaceful resolution but as we uh just draw back to the recent NATO Summit and you know what we're hearing from their frustration from the ukrainians not being able to join NATO at this point we know that they can't join NATO while there is a frozen conflict taking place let alone a hot conflict that we've got right now so as we talk about getting to some sort of peaceful negotiation what is the way forward as we take on board what the ukrainians want but also what Russia wants to see here of what Russia wants to see here and what Ukraine wants of course utterly incompatible there's little scope for negotiation between a country that wants to destroy its neighbor and that neighbor that actually wants to survive and that's the reason why there is not this uh any potential for any peace talks which will be satisfactory to both sides it's it's simply not possible there were a lot of very high hopes for for Ukraine from that NATO Summit in Vilnius some of which were completely misplaced there were some expectations there which were completely unrealistic for what NATO could actually do but at the same time yes it was a failure of courage and Imagination by NATO to repeat the same formula that they had for Ukraine back in 2008 yes you can join but when the conditions are right which is a very Weasley way when you when you don't actually see what the conditions are in effect NATO is saying that nothing had changed in the previous 15 years in the security situation around Ukraine which is very disappointing for those who see that Ukraine's only long-term security lies within a Western Alliance that can stand together with that against Russian aggression

Channel: CNBC International TV

Views: 10,956

Keywords: Squawk Box

Id: ViWckHUM-oE

Length: 4min 37sec (277 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 07 2023