By Yew Lun Tian&nbsp;and&nbsp;Laurie Chen
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to soon visit Russia's Vladimir Putin&nbsp;and, according to media, hold a virtual meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy weeks after&nbsp;China&nbsp;proposed a 12-point plan for&nbsp;peace&nbsp;in&nbsp;Ukraine.
China's foreign ministry has said it is in communication with both sides&nbsp;and, while it has not confirmed Xi's plan for talks with either Putin or Zelenskiy, there is speculation that&nbsp;China&nbsp;may try to get the rivals to the negotiating table.
Following&nbsp;are&nbsp;some&nbsp;of the&nbsp;issues&nbsp;China&nbsp;and&nbsp;others&nbsp;are&nbsp;likely&nbsp;to be&nbsp;taking&nbsp;into&nbsp;account&nbsp;as it&nbsp;considers&nbsp;prospects&nbsp;for&nbsp;peace&nbsp;in&nbsp;Ukraine.
WHY WOULD&nbsp;CHINA&nbsp;TRY TO MEDIATE?
China&nbsp;has traditionally adhered to a principle of not interfering in other countries' conflicts, especially the more distant ones.
But a&nbsp;peace&nbsp;deal struck in Beijing last week between Saudi Arabia&nbsp;and&nbsp;Iran highlights a Chinese aim to project itself as a responsible great power under Xi's stewardship, analysts say.
"Xi would want to be seen on the global stage as a statesman whose influence at least equals that of the U.S. leader," said Wang Jiangyu, a law professor at City University of Hong Kong.
China&nbsp;is also eager to deflect criticism that when it comes to&nbsp;Ukraine,&nbsp;it has sided with the aggressor, Russia, which calls its invasion in February last year a "special military operation".
Attempting to broker&nbsp;peace&nbsp;is a low-cost venture that can yield high returns for&nbsp;China, even if a quick breakthrough is highly unlikely, analysts say.
WHAT IS&nbsp;CHINA'S PROPOSAL FOR&nbsp;PEACE?
China&nbsp;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".
While the plan called for the protection of civilians&nbsp;and&nbsp;that the sovereignty of all countries be respected,&nbsp;China&nbsp;has refrained from condemning Russia for its invasion.
The plan got lukewarm welcomes in both Russia&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;while the United States&nbsp;and&nbsp;NATO were sceptical.
Ukraine,&nbsp;which says it will only consider&nbsp;peace&nbsp;settlements after Russian troops leave Ukrainian territory, took issue with the plan for not stating that Russia should withdraw behind borders in place since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, but later said it was open to "parts of the plan".
Russia said it would take a "nuanced study" of the plan but did not see any sign for a&nbsp;peaceful resolution for now.
The U.S. said&nbsp;China&nbsp;presented itself publicly as neutral&nbsp;and&nbsp;seeking&nbsp;peace&nbsp;while at the same time reflected Russia's "false narrative" about the war, provided it with non-lethal assistance&nbsp;and&nbsp;was considering lethal assistance.&nbsp;China&nbsp;denies that.
NATO said&nbsp;China&nbsp;did not have much credibility as a mediator on&nbsp;Ukraine.
WHAT ROLE COULD&nbsp;CHINA&nbsp;PLAY?
Analysts say it will be hard for&nbsp;China&nbsp;to get Russia&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;to the negotiating table, unlike Saudi Arabia&nbsp;and&nbsp;Iran, which presented an easier diplomatic win.
"Saudi Arabia&nbsp;and&nbsp;Iran actually want to talk&nbsp;and&nbsp;improve relations, while Russia&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;don&rsquo;t, at least for now," said Yun Sun, director of the&nbsp;China&nbsp;Program at the Washington-based Stimson Center.
However, Xi could act as a backchannel, Yun said, which could start momentum towards talks that for now seem unlikely&nbsp;with both sides hardening their stances in the grinding war.
A fruitless attempt by NATO member Turkey to host dialogue in Istanbul in the weeks after the war began last year underscored the difficulty.
WHAT LEVERAGE DOES&nbsp;CHINA&nbsp;HAVE?
Some&nbsp;analysts say&nbsp;China&nbsp;is in a better position than Turkey to mediate because it has more leverage over Russia.
China&nbsp;is Russia's most important ally&nbsp;and&nbsp;has been buying Russian oil&nbsp;and&nbsp;provided a market for Russian goods shunned by Western countries.
China&nbsp;also has&nbsp;some&nbsp;leverage over&nbsp;Ukraine,&nbsp;which would not want to torpedo the chances of Chinese support for its reconstruction, said Samuel Ramani, a Russia expert at Oxford University.
China&nbsp;expanded trade with&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;after Russia invaded Crimea in 2014&nbsp;and&nbsp;did not recognise the annexed territory as Russian, he said.
"Most importantly, Zelenskiy does not want to provoke&nbsp;China&nbsp;so much that they start arming Russia," Ramani said.
CAN&nbsp;CHINA&nbsp;BE AN HONEST BROKER?
China's close ties with Russia mean its role will be viewed with deep scepticism. Days before Russia invaded&nbsp;Ukraine,&nbsp;China&nbsp;and&nbsp;Russia announced a "no-limits" partnership.
While&nbsp;China&nbsp;has called for&nbsp;peace&nbsp;since the beginning of the war, it has largely reflected the Russian position that NATO threatened Russia with its eastward expansion while&nbsp;Ukraine's Western allies fanned the flames of war by supplying it with tanks&nbsp;and&nbsp;missiles.
Andrew Small, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, said&nbsp;China&nbsp;wants to be seen as doing its part for&nbsp;peace&nbsp;but is not prepared to press Putin to stop the war&nbsp;and&nbsp;sacrifice its relations with Russia.
"Beijing hasn&rsquo;t thrown its weight around nor sought to coerce Russia into doing anything," he said.
&nbsp;
(Reporting by Yew Lun Tian&nbsp;and&nbsp;Laurie Chen, additional reporting by Joe Cash; Editing by John Geddie&nbsp;and&nbsp;Robert Birsel)

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