Peace talks between Ukraine and Russia will remain on hold as long as the war in the Middle East continues, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said on Saturday.
Podolyak said that due to the ongoing tensions in the Middle East, the political and military parts of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia have been suspended, while the humanitarian track continues to operate.
He said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and head of the presidential office Kyrylo Budanov have announced the possibility of continuing advancing prisoner exchanges, and related efforts are already underway.
Russian-Ukraine peace talks on hold until end of Middle East war: presidential advisor
Russian-Ukraine peace talks on hold until end of Middle East war: presidential advisor
Russian-Ukraine peace talks on hold until end of Middle East war: presidential advisor
People-to-people exchanges between China and the United States can make a significant contribution to mutual understanding, said a former U.S. diplomat, noting that there is a lot of room for subnational engagement between the two countries.
While attending a welcome ceremony held by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday morning, President Xi Jinping pledged to invite 100,000 young Americans to visit China for exchanges and study over the next five years.
During an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), David Firestein, president and CEO of the George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations and a former diplomat, lauded President Xi's invitation, calling for more such exchanges in both directions.
"As the Chinese saying goes, hearing 100 times is not as good as seeing once. And I think it's really important that people have the opportunity to see for themselves what's happening, by the way, in both directions. But the work that China has done to catalyze and facilitate greater numbers of young Americans getting to China, I think, is laudable. And I think it's a significant contribution to mutual understanding and certainly to U.S. understanding of China. And by the same token, the Chinese in China who interact with those Americans no doubt learn quite a bit about the United States as well. So that's very positive. I think we need to do a lot more of that in both directions," Firestein said.
Beyond exchanges at national level, the expert stressed that there is more room for subnational engagement between China and the United States.
"It's not just the federal government in the United States or the central government in China that is involved in facilitating or catalyzing these exchanges. But just as you've said, it's cities, it's states, it's universities, non-profits, individual actors, there's a lot of room for what we might call subnational engagement, and it takes everyone kind of rowing in the same direction, to use that metaphor, to really make a difference and to have an impact when you're dealing with countries of this scale," Firestein said.
He said that there are signs of changing attitudes in the United States, as more people come to see that their country must take a "more pragmatic and results-oriented" approach to China.
"I do think that we are starting to see a change in the mindset in the United States. I think people are starting to realize we need to be more pragmatic and results-oriented in dealing with China because provocative, politicized, incendiary rhetoric isn't solving anybody's problems. And ultimately, the bottom line metric is solving problems and making people's lives better. I think we're starting to see a bit of a shift and a bit of a rethink in the United States, and I think that's healthy, and it'll be very interesting to see how that unfolds," said Firestein.
China-US people-to-people exchanges contribute to mutual understanding: former diplomat
