Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping via phone on Wednesday. It was the first time that the two leaders had acknowledged speaking to each other since Russia invaded Ukraine 14 months ago, and both sides announced it with a note of diplomatic triumph: A Chinese readout mentioned the “current rise of reasonable thinking and voices from all sides”, while Zelensky wrote on Twitter that it was a “long and meaningful conversation”.
Behind the niceties, however, is an unmistakable tension. The call was a geopolitical tightrope walk, as the Ukraine-China relationship becomes a balancing act for both parties.
China, which announced in its readout that
