Letters | Ukraine peace plans by China and Indonesia have a common fault: they work against their proponent’s interests

Readers discuss the importance of upholding territorial integrity in a peace plan, and why China sees no reason to play the US game

Reading Time:3 minutes

Ukrainian soldiers stand in their positions near Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, on June 5. Photo: Iryna Rybakova via AP

Published: 2:30pm, 7 Jun 2023

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Peace plans for Ukraine have been proposed by China and most recently by Indonesia: both work against the interests of their proponents.

Let us be clear what is involved in Russia’s actions in Ukraine. A member state of the United Nations has used military force to acquire the territory of another member, in contravention of Article 2.4 of the United Nations Charter.

Two elements of the Ukraine war should worry China and Indonesia as they craft their diplomatic positions on the conflict and their engagement with Russia.

First, Russia justifies its military action by rejecting the historical legitimacy of accepted borders and by pointing to self-determination for the populations on whose behalf it claims to be intervening.

Second, Russia now relies on militarily achieved “facts on the ground” to assert that it is the efforts to reverse its acquisition that prolong the conflict and that threaten escalation into a regional or indeed nuclear war.