Act on Xi-proposed Global Security Initiative to end war in Ukraine

By Abbas MWalimu

On April 21, 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022. In his speech titled “Rising to Challenges and Building a Bright Future Through Cooperation”, President Xi proposed for the first time the Global Security Initiative (GSI).

Xi’s proposal comes in a time when the economic sanctions imposed by the US and its allies against Russia have proven to be dysfunctional and only aggravate insecurity of many countries in the world. The rising prices of fuel and food are just some of the impacts the war in Ukraine and subsequent economic sanctions have brought forth.

Deterioration of economic situation in almost all countries in the world tells us: We live in an interconnected and interdependent world where security challenges in one region could affect other regions heavily if they are not properly addressed.

With a view to solving the security problems in the world, President Xi proposed the GSI. The GSI is underpinned by “six commitments”, namely, staying committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security; staying committed to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries; staying committed to abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter; staying committed to taking the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously; staying committed to peacefully resolving differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation; and staying committed to maintaining security in both traditional and non-traditional domains.

Reflecting China’s wisdom in addressing the root causes of global insecurity and proposing the way forward, the GSI has indicated the appropriate methods to end the war in Ukraine and bring about long-term peace and tranquility in Europe.

As President Xi rightly pointed out when he met with European Union leaders on 1 April via video link, the root cause of the Ukraine crisis is the regional security tensions in Europe that have built up over the years and a fundamental solution is to accommodate the legitimate security concerns of all relevant parties.

Since the end of the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato), which is a military alliance of Western countries established in the Cold War era, has gone through five rounds of eastward expansion, granting membership to 14 countries which were the territories of the Soviet Union before its dissolution in 1991. Russia has repeatedly warned the US and its allies not to accept Ukraine as a Nato member. However, with a hostile attitude toward the Russian President Vladimir Putin and his administration, the US and its Nato allies have turned a deaf ear to Russia’s warnings. Worse still, during the past several years, Nato has conducted several joint military exercises with the Ukrainian army, which has undoubtedly aggravated Russia’s security concerns.

Therefore, to end the war in Ukraine, we have to deal with its root cause, that is, the hostility and lack of trust between the US-led Nato and Russia. Both Nato and Russia need take concrete measures to alleviate the security concerns of the other side. As a first step, Nato should commit itself to not granting membership to Ukraine, and Russia should withdraw its troops from the Ukrainian soil.

More importantly, the US and its allies should stop supplying arms to the Ukrainian army because such acts would only prolong the war and result in more casualties.

The Russia-Ukraine war is a war between two unequals. The military capabilities of these two nations are so imbalanced that the Ukrainian army would have already been defeated should it had not received military and intelligence support from the US and its allies.

The US and its allies’ continuous supply of arms to Ukraine is not conducive to a peaceful settlement of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Due to the huge gap in military strength, Ukraine won’t defeat Russia on the battlefield, though it has military backing from the West. The only purpose for the US and its allies to supply arms to Ukraine is to weaken Russia by sustaining the war and imposing economic sanctions.

However, the Ukrainians, the Europeans and people all over the world are paying a heavy price for the hegemonic ambition of the US. More Ukrainians will die in the war; Europeans are now paying higher energy bills due to bans on Russia’s oil imports; We Africans have to cope with rising fuel and food prices.

As most countries in the world are suffering from the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war, it’s advisable to act on the China-proposed GSI to facilitate an early ceasefire and the resumption of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine so that the war can come to an end as we have expected.