Be it that Washington has accepted the fact that the Russia-Ukraine conflict has entered a stage of attrition that serves no parties' interests or that it has realized that continuing to dismiss Beijing's pro-peace efforts only highlights its own unsavory role in the crisis, Washington's rhetoric on China's mediation endeavors has markedly softened, particularly after the leaders of China and Ukraine had a phone talk late last month.
While taking a question on that at a regular news conference on Monday, Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson for the United States Department of State, said: "We've long felt and long believed that the PRC has an appropriate role it can play, and we also strongly believe that the PRC needs to hear not just from the Russians but also from our Ukrainian partners."
And US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told The Washington Post on Wednesday last week: "In principle, there's nothing wrong with that if we have a country, whether it's China or other countries that have significant influence that are prepared to pursue a just and durable peace. … We would welcome that, and it's certainly possible that China would have a role to play in that effort. And that could be very beneficial." And he also said there were "positive" items in China's 12-point peace plan released in February.
Yet just one month back, the US was pouring cold water on China's efforts to end the hostility between Kyiv and Moscow and describing its 12-point plan as being empty, vague, self-contradictory and unworkable.
It must be pointed out that the leopard hasn't changed its spots. Washington's strategic goals in instigating the Ukraine crisis — to weaken Russia, control Europe and isolate China — remain unchanged. By extending that olive branch to China, Washington wants Beijing's cooperation on the US-led sanctions on Russia — the best result — and Beijing to intensify its lobbying of Moscow to postpone or cancel its retaliation for the spring offensive campaign of Kyiv — the secondary objective — to create a window, not for peace but for a respite for the US side.
If these two goals are unattainable, which is quite likely, Washington hopes to make Beijing a supporter of, or at least a lobbyist for, the conditions it has prescribed to Moscow, which means a de facto unconditional surrender of Russia.
But that too is wishful thinking. Beijing's open channels of communication with Moscow and Kyiv, and the healthy Sino-Ukrainian and Sino-Russian ties are by no means something the US should think it can speculate on for its own narrow ends.
China expects the US, as the root cause of the conflict, to demonstrate a true commitment to peace rather than scheming to take advantage of peace efforts to further advance its own agenda.