Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun. Photo: VCG

China's position on the Ukraine crisis is consistent and clear, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, in response to a media inquiry regarding US President Donald Trump's recent remarks calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a "dictator" and whether China believes Ukraine should hold presidential elections.

Spokesperson Guo Jiakun made the brief remarks during Thursday's press briefing. 

According to CNN, rifts between Trump and Zelensky escalated on Wednesday after Trump labelled the Ukrainian leader a "dictator without elections" in a post on his Truth Social network. Trump claimed that Zelensky "refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls.

Zelensky's five-year term of office was set to end in May 2024. However, Ukraine has been under martial law since the Russia-Ukraine war started in February 2022 and elections have been suspended, according to media reports. 

Trump's words came after Zelensky, reacting to US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia from which Kiev was excluded, said the US president was "living in a disinformation space" dominated by Moscow, according to the BBC. 

The BBC reported that the "dictator" slur quickly prompted criticism from European leaders including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said "it is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelensky his democratic legitimacy." UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also made it clear he backed Zelensky in a phone call to the Ukrainian president.

Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Thursday that China has already released a paper stating its position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis in 2023, and China has always been staunch promoters of peace talks and political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. 

On February 15, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reaffirmed China's commitment to promoting peace while meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha in Munich, Germany.

China supports all efforts dedicated to peace and expects a fair, lasting, and binding peace agreement accepted by all parties concerned, Wang said. The "Friends of Peace" platform, initiated by China and countries of the Global South, will continue to build consensus for promoting peace and talks, he added.

Regarding Trump's comments on Zelensky and the Ukrainian election, Li believed that it represents a typical case of US intervention in other countries' internal affairs.

However, the expert added that the sharp turn in US-Ukraine relations and the spat between the two leaders reflect the fact that Ukraine was used as a pawn by the US during the crisis, the difference is that the Biden administration used Kiev to deplete Moscow, while the Trump administration seeks to sacrifice Ukraine in order to extract the US from the quagmire.

Li added that the US' handling of the Ukraine crisis looks hasty, which risks escalating tensions, further complicating the geopolitical dynamics surrounding the Ukraine crisis, making it more complex, volatile, and increasingly difficult to resolve.