Minxin Pei
President Xi Jinping’s decision to dispatch special envoy Li Hui to Europe this week marks a subtle but important evolution in China’s position on the war in Ukraine. Li, China’s former ambassador to Russia, is for now unlikely to do much more than gather and report back to Xi the views of his interlocutors in Ukraine, Russia, Poland, France, and Germany. Instead of downplaying the trip as a PR stunt, though, the US and its allies should seek to exploit it.
Optically at least, Li’s visit is yet further confirmation that Xi is hoping to extricate himself from a no-win situation. The Chinese leader made his first move in late April by calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. This was followed by a previously unannounced meeting between Xi’s top foreign policy adviser, Wang Yi, and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan last week in Vienna. Notably, the war in Ukraine dominated their agend
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