Beijing: China will send a special envoy to Ukraine, Russia and other European nations from Monday, Beijing said on Friday, the highest-ranking Chinese diplomat to visit the war-torn country since Moscow’s invasion last year.
From Ukraine to the Middle East, Beijing in recent months has sought to position itself as a mediator with a leading role in solving the world’s crises.
But while China says it is a neutral party on the Ukraine war, it has been criticized for refusing to condemn Moscow for the invasion.
More than a year into the war, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky by phone last month.
Beijing then announced that Li Hui — China’s ambassador to Russia from 2009 to 2019 — would lead a delegation to Ukraine.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular press conference Friday that the aim of Li’s trip to Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia was to “communicate with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.”
Li’s tour showed China’s “commitment to promoting peace and talks,” Wang said. “It fully shows that China firmly stands on the side of peace.
“China is willing to continue to play a constructive role in building more international consensus on the cease-fire, the cessation of war, the opening of peace talks, and the avoidance of escalation of the situation,” he added.
Qin Gang, China’s foreign minister who is currently in Norway, said of Li’s visit: “We all worry about the situation and we all call for peace and a political solution, which China stands for and has been calling for since day one of the outbreak of the conflict.”
But the choice of Li, the special representative of the Chinese government for Eurasian Affairs, has raised eyebrows.
Shortly before leaving Moscow as ambassador, he was awarded the Order of Friendship medal by President Vladimir Putin.
Xi’s phone call with Zelensky, described by the Ukrainian president as “long and meaningful,” follows Beijing’s publication in February of a 12-point position paper on Ukraine, which called for dialogue and respect for all countries’ territorial sovereignty.
The paper was panned by Western countries for its vague wording, though it prompted Zelensky to say he would be open to talks with Xi.
Its first point was that “the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries must be effectively upheld.”
But China has consistently refused to expand upon how that relates to the specifics of the Ukraine war.
China special envoy to visit Ukraine, Russia
China special envoy to visit Ukraine, Russia
- Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky by phone last month
- Li Hui — China’s ambassador to Russia from 2009 to 2019 — would lead a delegation to Ukraine
US Justice Department official eyes cases against Cuba leaders as Trump floats ‘friendly takeover’
- “Working group” formed to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government
- Trump’s has increasingly displayed aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership
MIAMI: The top Justice Department prosecutor in Miami is considering criminal investigations of Cuban government officials, according to people familiar with the matter. The inquiry comes as President Donald Trump has raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover” of the communist-run island.
Jason Reding Quiñones, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, has created a “working group” that includes federal prosecutors and officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies to try to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government and its Communist Party, according to one of the people. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the effort.
It was not immediately clear which Cuban officials the office is targeting or what criminal charges prosecutors may be looking to bring.
The Justice Department said in a statement Friday that “federal prosecutors from across the country work every day to pursue justice, which includes efforts to combat transnational crime.”
The effort is taking place against the backdrop of Trump’s increasingly aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership.
Emboldened by the US capture of Cuba’s close ally, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump last month said his administration was in high-level talks with officials in Havana to pursue “a friendly takeover” of the country. He repeated those claims this week, saying his attention would turn back to Cuba once the war with Iran winds down.
“They want to make a deal so bad,” Trump said of Cuba’s leadership.
While Cuba has faded from Washington’s radar as a major national security threat in recent decades, it remains a priority in the US Attorney’s office in Miami, whose political, economic and cultural life is dominated by Cuban-American exiles.
The FBI field office has a dedicated Cuba group that in 2024 was instrumental in the arrest of former US Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha on charges of serving as a secret agent of Cuba stretching back to the 1970s.
In recent weeks, several Miami Republicans, in addition to Florida Sen. Rick Scott, have called on the Trump administration to reopen its criminal investigation into the 1996 shootdown of four planes operated by anti-communist exiles.
In a letter to Trump on Feb. 13, lawmakers including Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez highlighted decades-old news reports indicating that former President Raúl Castro — the head of Cuba’s military at the time — gave the order to shoot down the unarmed Cessna aircraft.
“We believe unequivocally that Raúl Castro is responsible for this heinous crime,” lawmakers wrote. “It is time for him to be brought to justice.”
While no indictment against Castro has been announced, Florida’s attorney general said this week that he would open a state-level investigation into the crime.
The Trump administration has also accused Cuba of not cooperating with American counterterrorism efforts, adding it alongside North Korea and Iran to a select few nations the US considers state sponsors of terrorism.
The designation stems from Cuba’s harboring of US fugitives and its refusal to extradite several Colombian rebel leaders while they were engaged in peace talks with the South American nation.
