Are Xi and Lula Negotiating a Joint Proposal for Peace in Ukraine?

April 8, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—Brazilian journalist Jamil Chade, writing in the news section of Brazil’s major website UOL, wrote yesterday that China and Brazil are working out a joint declaration, in which they will defend a negotiated and peaceful means out of the year-long war between Russia and Ukraine. “At the Planalto Palace [the presidential residence], the final text is still under debate and the final arrangements should only be established after the meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on April 14 in Beijing.”

President Lula had as much as confirmed that one day earlier, telling reporters in his April 6 morning press conference:

“I am confident that when I return from China ... I am going to say that the group that will discuss peace has been created, which is what the world needs.” He told reporters that he wants to sit at the negotiating table with President Xi Jinping on this issue, because “China’s economic, military and political importance and China’s relationship to Russia, and even China’s differences with the United States, give China an extraordinary potential for conversations.”

From Chade’s report, it appears a carefully crafted section on the war in Ukraine is to be included in the overall joint statement being drafted for release after the two Presidents meet. Because of its sensitivity, negotiations on the wording of this section are being handled directly out of the Presidential office, bypassing the Brazilian Embassy in China, Chade writes. The idea is for the statement to discuss the need to create dialogue channels which will allow mediators to help find a resolution—something that has been prominently emphasized by both leaders over the recent period.