President Zelensky Should Seek And Then Travel ASAP To Beijing For Summit With President Xi Before President Xi Travels To Moscow For Summit With President Putin. Optics And Efforts Matter.
President Zelensky Should Seek And Then Travel ASAP To Beijing For Summit With President Xi Before President Xi Travels To Moscow For Summit With President Putin.
If President Xi Declines, Than President Zelensky Should Be Public About It. Very Public.
The Optics Matter. The Effort Matters.
How Does He Get There?
For a head of state who has focused intently since 24 February 2022 upon optics, upon performance, upon presentation, upon often uncomfortable filter-less communications, Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine (2019- ) should not forgo a visit to Beijing and an audience with Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China (2013- ).
Critical for the visit to be concluded prior to President Xi traveling to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (2000-2008; 2012- ).
President Zelensky should seek to be the last head of state meeting with President Xi prior to his visit to Moscow.
There is Embassy of Ukraine in Beijing with a Charge d’Affaires a.i. There is an Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Kyiv with an ambassador.
Ukraine exports to the People’s Republic of China: US$7.26 billion in 2020 and US$7.99 billion in 2021. Ukraine imports from the People’s Republic of China: US$7.46 billion in 2020 and US$10.97 billion in 2021.
For comparison, Russian Federation exports to the People’s Republic of China: US$49.3 billion in 2020 and US$114 billion in 2021. Russian Federation imports from the People’s Republic of China: US$50.7 billion in 2020 and US$76 billion in 2021.
The imagery is essential for President Zelensky to be received by President Xi in the Great Hall of the People where other heads of state and heads of government are received. Using face-to-face conversation to deliver a message.
President Zelensky should include in his delegation senior officials of the armed forces of Ukraine so they may engage directly with senior representatives of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to explain how they view the war landscape.
The imagery is essential for President Zelensky to demonstrate, particularly to those increasing in number constituencies who believe too many taxpayer borrowed resources have been and continue to be directed to the government of Ukraine, that he will seek out any opportunity to meet with heads of state and heads of government who may have influence, however tentative, to bring the Russian Federation-Ukraine war to a conclusion.
Image Of Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany during his visit with President Xi
Should the visit by President Xi to Moscow result in discussion points with merit, then President Xi and President Zelensky could meet again, perhaps in Poland or in Turkiye.
Flight time is approximately 9.5 hours from Poland (the nearest country with an international airport/military base from which to depart Ukraine) to Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK). How would President Zelensky travel from Kyiv to PEK?
Using a military aircraft provided by a member of the thirty-country North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would be unwise- although President Zelensky would like little more than to project further connectivity between NATO and the government of Ukraine. The government of the People’s Republic of China may not welcome the optics- nor should NATO. The Russian Federation-Ukraine war has progressed from a traditionally defined proxy-war to what an increasing number of constituencies view as a but-in-name-only direct conflict with some members of NATO deploying equipment, operational guidance, servicing, training, and intelligence sharing to the armed forces of Ukraine. The only missing component are officially confirmed members of the armed forces of NATO member countries firing weapons in Ukraine at the armed forces of the Russian Federation. There has been an increasing presence of representatives from intelligence agencies in country since prior to 24 February 2022 and increasing since, both those assigned to embassies and consulates and those with non-official cover (NOC). For some observers, mission-creep is only a matter of time before members of the armed forces of some NATO countries are confirmed officially in Ukraine in “non-combat” roles.
Using a government (civilian) aircraft provided by one of the twenty-seven members of the European Union (EU) is an option. How would the selection be made without at least one and probably more governments displeased they were not selected. One compromise- one government provides the outbound aircraft, and another provides the inbound aircraft.
Using an aircraft provided by the United Nations (UN) is an option although the UN does not have a long-range aircraft in its fleet.
Using an aircraft provided by the government of the United States is unwise- the connectivity to the Biden-Harris Administration (2021- ) would reinforce messaging further that President Zelensky is a construct of United States hegemony.
The most viable option is for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkiye (2014- ), to provide the Presidential Boeing 747-8ZV BBJ (TC-TRK) which has a 64,000-gallon fuel tank (at US$3.00 per gallon filling is US$192,000.00) and a range of approximately 9,000 miles.
The distance from Poland to Beijing is approximately 4,500 miles. The travel time is approximately 9.5 hours. A Boeing 747-8 aircraft burns approximately 3,000 gallons of fuel per hour and has a range of approximately sixteen hours. The Presidential jet could potentially make the roundtrip without refueling.
Appropriate for the government of Ukraine to reimburse (flight time, fuel, crew, provisions, ground handling, etc.) whomever provides aircraft. The government of Ukraine should not want taxpayers in other countries to be responsible for the costs.
On 24 February 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded and further invaded the territory of Ukraine in what Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (2000-2008 and 2012- ), defined as a Special Military Operation [SMO] then on 22 December 2022 he redefined as a war. The initial invasion by the armed forces of the Russian Federation was in part from the territory of the Republic of Belarus.
The war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine did not commence on 24 February 2022. The roots began their trajectories on 20 February 2014 when the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded the Crimean Peninsula and the area known as the Donbas Region (Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast).