Zelensky Fails To Garner Asian Support for Ukraine’s “Peace Talks”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has so far failed to generate significant support from Asian countries for his “peace formula” to end the conflict in Ukraine, according to a report in the Washington Post.

Ahead of an upcoming peace conference in Switzerland later this month, Zelensky has been actively courting Asian leaders, but with limited success.

During the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore on Sunday, Zelensky met with several senior officials from the region, including the president-elect of Indonesia and the leaders of Singapore.

However, the Washington Post notes that Ukraine has “failed to generate in Asia the same sort of emotional, existential angst that it has in much of the West.”

One potential reason for this, the report suggests, is that many Asian nations have long been skeptical of the West’s “preaching about the international order and universal values.” As an analyst from the National University of Singapore explained, “realists in the chancelleries [of parts of Asia] never believed the [Western] rhetoric because they always knew there was a difference between what the West said and what it did.”

Related:China Declines Attending Zelensky-led Ukraine Peace Summit

The lack of solidarity with Ukraine in Asia was also acknowledged by East Timor’s president, José Ramos-Horta, who supports the upcoming peace conference. Ramos-Horta told reporters that the conflict is “viewed in much of the Global South as a European and American and Russian war.”

Meanwhile, Russia has dismissed Ukraine’s “peace formula” as unrealistic, as it does not align with the “realities on the ground.” The Kremlin has also criticized the planned peace conference, with President Vladimir Putin describing it as “nonsense” since Russia has not been invited to participate.

Also Read:Should Africans Prioritize Swiss Peace Conference?

As the Switzerland conference approaches, the participation of world leaders remains uncertain, with the U.S. and China expected to either skip the gathering or send lower-level representatives instead of their heads of state. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva have also indicated they will not be attending.

Source:RT