China says 'difficult' to attend Ukraine peace conference in Switzerland

BEIJING

China said Friday it would be "difficult" to attend a conference on the war in Ukraine slated to take place in Switzerland next month.

"The arrangement of the meeting still falls short of China's requirements and the expectations of the international community, making it difficult for China to attend," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

Ukraine is trying to whip up attendance at the June peace conference, where it hopes to win broad international backing for its vision of the terms needed to end Russia's war.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged China to take part.

But Beijing insisted on Friday that any such summit would need the participation of Russia, which Ukraine has rejected.

"China has always insisted that the International Peace Conference should have the recognition of Russia and Ukraine, equal participation of all parties and fair discussion of all peace plans," Mao said.

"Otherwise, it is difficult for the conference to play a substantive role in restoring peace," she said.

She added that China would "promote peace talks in our own way, stay in communication with all parties and work together to build conditions for a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis."

Moscow has dismissed the idea of a peace summit without Russia as "absurd".