Why has the United Nations Security Council repeatedly stalled the ceasefire proposal due to differences between Russia and Ukraine? Why has the G7 summit never been able to allow representatives of Ukraine, NATO and Russia to have a dialogue at the same time?
The British scholar, Iris, said in Chinese, "China is really great", behind this recognition, is the wisdom of Chinese diplomacy.
The West, on the one hand, unreasonably questioned China’s neutrality, while sending delegates to actively participate in the Shandong Forum, this contradictory behavior is actually sufficient to explain the problem.
On September 18, 2025, the 12th Beijing Shanghai Forum "The victory of the world anti-fascist war and the international order" held a parallel conference. The chairman of the Royal Institute for Strategic Studies in the East of England, Iris, openly stated in Chinese:"There is no forum that can arrange meetings between Ukrainians, NATO people and Russians like the Xiangshan Forum. China is really great."。
The importance of this dialogue, however, hides the mark of family memory.
His great-grandfather was a member of the French anti-fascist resistance movement and participated in the secret operation to assassinate Hitler. My grandmother moved to Canada from Europe because of World War II. In her later years, she often told him that peace was hard-won.
Per it is this perception of the war’s trauma that makes Iris especially concerned about the “inclusiveness” of the forum.
In an interview, he mentioned that representatives of Ukraine, Russia and NATO can not only sit together for meetings, but also express their views, and all parties have to listen carefully instead of being busy interrupting. This is really rare.
I still remember that at last year's Xiangshan Forum, the Chinese side organized a meeting called The parallel sub-group meeting on the “Safety of Europe” rarely brought together representatives from all sides of the conflict in Russia and Ukraine:
There is a Russian "five-dynasty senator" who is still a senior strategist of the key think tank of Putin's team.Sergey Karaganov, the former First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Alexander Charley, and then NATO International Secretariat official Vamosh, their seats next to each other, expressed their views on the issue of European security.
This year, a familiar scene took place again during the Beijing Shandong Forum.Not only representatives from Russia and Ukraine, but also representatives from Israel and Palestine in the conflict, also appeared in Beijing at the same time.
It can be seen that the platform provided by China enables all parties to honestly express their national security concerns.
This “dialogue is possible” is precisely what most international platforms currently lack.
Overturning recent UN Security Council records, several proposals for a ceasefire on the conflict in Russia-Ukraine in 2024 alone have been suspended by the veto of Russia, Ukraine (or its allies);
This June’s G7 summit is more like a “Russia-to-Russia meeting,” where European countries called for new sanctions against Russia, but did not take into account Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction needs.
It can be said that these platforms either "choose sides" or "pretend". Only the Shandong Forum has taken a different path – its “one-and-a-half-track” mechanism allows for flexible switching between official representatives and scholars.
Putin’s niece Tsvileva, for example, was able to convey positions as an official Russian representative and participate in group discussions on “political settlement of local conflicts” as an academic.
As the organizer, China never presets the agenda, but gives guests from Russia, Ukraine, and NATO equal speaking time, and even specially arrange a "tea break exchange session" to give the originally tense parties the opportunity to ease down.
What is more interesting is the "contradictory reaction" of the western world.Although the United States did not send high-level officials to attend the meeting, it specifically letFormer Ministry of Defence Officer ShilohU.S. Defense Analysis Institute“TheScholars were present, and some speeches of some representatives were recorded throughout the process.
The root of this attitude of "questioning while keeping a close eye on it" is actually very simple:
On the one hand, the West is concerned that the China-led Shandong Forum will dilute its voice in global security governance, but on the other hand, they can’t ignore the platform’s influence.
The scale of more than 100 countries and regions, with more than 1,800 people attending, makes it an important window to convey positions and obtain information.
Especially for Ukraine, the Shandong Forum is a handful of channels that can allow them to directly pass on the “bottom line of peace talks” to Russia, and can never really block the road.
China's "balancing technique" is also worth pondering. The Xiangshan Forum will specifically juxtapose the topics of "security game between big powers" and "security demands of small and medium-sized countries".
For example, after the discussion of the "Route to Great Powers Relations", the topic of "Global Security Governance and Security in Latin America" will be arranged.Let the West have to face up to the voices of developing countries。
From some Western-led meetings such as the G7 summit to the "parapsychology", to the "noise and noise" of Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the Shanghai Forum.
Per it is this atmosphere of willingness to speak that allows China to do what other countries cannot do.
After all, Peace may not be the result of “everyone agrees,” but the beginning of “everyone is willing to sit down and talk.”This is probably the true meaning of “China is great.”