Before the World Summit, China lobbies its "peace plan" among other countries – Reuters

China, which will not attend the World Summit in Switzerland this weekend, is lobbying world governments for its "peace plan" ahead of the Swiss meeting.

As the World Summit approaches, China has stepped up its outreach activities through meetings with visiting foreign officials, phone calls and messages to foreign missions on China's WeChat platform, diplomats said.

Beijing's special envoy for Eurasia, Li Hui, visited Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates last month and met with officials from developing countries at their embassies in Beijing, diplomats said.

Explaining why it will not attend the world summit, China is trying to get developing countries involved in the six-point "peace plan" it unveiled with Brazil last month.

In conversations with developing countries, China did not criticize the summit in Switzerland and did not directly ask countries to refrain from participating, Beijing diplomats told the agency.

But one diplomat briefed on the briefing said Beijing had been telling developing countries that the World Summit would continue the war. According to the two diplomats, China has told Western countries that many developing countries share its views on the World Summit.

The presented Chinese proposal envisages holding an international peace conference "at an appropriate time, recognized by both Russia and Ukraine, with equal participation of all parties, as well as an honest discussion of all peace plans."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested that China could organize such a conference. The leader of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, expressed his support for the Chinese plan, saying that Beijing fully understands what is behind it.

Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said 45 countries had backed the Chinese proposal, and more than two dozen had either joined or were "seriously considering" it.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said last week: “China sincerely hopes that the peace conference (in Switzerland) will not turn into a platform to create a bloc confrontation. Not being on it does not mean not maintaining peace."