Shangri-La Dialogue: Ukraine’s Zelensky urges China’s help in nuclear safety and ending the war
“This is a threat to the whole world. I would want China to be present, and we know their presence … There should be nuclear safety and there should be no [abuse] of any nuclear power plant, just as there should be no usage of any nuclear weapon.”
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is located in southern Ukraine but has been controlled by Russian forces since the early days of the invasion. It was reportedly damaged by a drone strike in April. Both Kyiv and Moscow have denied responsibility for the attack.
“These countries [the nuclear powers] should be interested in this,” Zelensky said. “[China] also supports territorial integrity.”
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Zelensky warned that Ukraine was on the lookout for any Chinese exports of dual-use weapons systems to Russia.
Zelensky said that during a phone call last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping told him that “China will stand aside of this war and will not support Russia with weapons”.
However, Zelensky said on Sunday, there were “various signals from various intelligence services” that “somehow, someway” something was reaching Russia’s market via China.
“There are certainly elements that make part of Russia’s weaponry that come from China,” said Zelensky.
He added that Ukraine would share information about such dual-use systems, whether from China or elsewhere, with its partners.
“If this product arrives in markets of the Russian Federation, circumventing sanctions, we pass this information to our partners so that they stop such transit. We are fighting for this, and we can talk about these questions.”
During his visit to France in May, Xi pledged not to sell any arms to Moscow and to strictly control exports of dual-use goods.