BEIJING (Reuters) -China&nbsp;is concerned about an escalation of the war in&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;and&nbsp;hopes&nbsp;Moscow&nbsp;and&nbsp;Kyiv will&nbsp;hold&nbsp;peace&nbsp;talks,&nbsp;senior&nbsp;Chinese&nbsp;diplomat&nbsp;Qin Gang told his Ukrainian counterpart on a phone call on Thursday.
China, which has refrained from condemning&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;for its invasion of&nbsp;Ukraine, has urged both sides to agree to a gradual de-escalation leading to a comprehensive ceasefire in its 12-point paper on the "political resolution of the&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;crisis".
The plan, which received a lukewarm welcome on both sides, called for the protection of civilians&nbsp;and&nbsp;respect for each other's sovereignty.
"China&nbsp;hopes&nbsp;that all parties will remain calm, rational&nbsp;and&nbsp;restrained,&nbsp;and&nbsp;resume&nbsp;peace&nbsp;talks&nbsp;as soon as possible," Qin told Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, according to a&nbsp;Chinese&nbsp;foreign ministry statement.
Qin added that&nbsp;China&nbsp;hopes&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;and&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;will not close the door to a political solution no matter how difficult&nbsp;and&nbsp;challenging the situation, the ministry said.
Kuleba said he&nbsp;and&nbsp;Qin had discussed the "significance of the principle of territorial integrity" during the call.
"I underscored the importance of (Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's)&nbsp;Peace&nbsp;Formula for ending the aggression&nbsp;and&nbsp;restoring just&nbsp;peace&nbsp;in&nbsp;Ukraine," Kuleba wrote on Twitter.
Ukraine&nbsp;has said any plan to end the conflict must involve the withdrawal of&nbsp;Russian troops to&nbsp;Ukraine's borders in 1991, the year the Soviet Union was dissolved.
Chinese&nbsp;President Xi Jinping is expected to visit&nbsp;Russian Vladimir Putin as soon as next week&nbsp;and&nbsp;hold&nbsp;a virtual meeting with Zelenskiy.
Analysts say it will be hard for&nbsp;China&nbsp;to get&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;to the negotiating table, but some pointed out that Xi could act as a "back channel" for starting momentum towards&nbsp;talks.
(Reporting by Hong Kong newsroom; Editing by Angus MacSwan&nbsp;and&nbsp;Nick Macfie)

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China hopes Russia and Ukraine will hold peace talks, says senior Chinese diplomat