UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday called for collective efforts to establish a balanced, effective, and sustainable European security architecture in the context of the Ukraine crisis.

Sun Lei, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, made the appeal at a Security Council meeting on Ukraine.

The Ukraine issue has now entered a critical phase. Discussions at the international level are increasingly converging on negotiation and moving closer to peace. China welcomes such progress, supports all efforts toward peace, and hopes that the international community will work together to achieve an early political settlement of the crisis, he said.

Sun called on the parties concerned to seize on the positive momentum and strive for a just, lasting, and binding peace agreement as soon as possible.

"While the parties concerned had reached the Minsk Agreements, the Ukraine crisis still erupted, the underlying reason being the failure to properly address their respective security concerns and tackle the root causes of the conflict," said Sun. "Any new peace agreement must draw on this lesson."

China calls on all parties to adequately address the root causes of the conflict; to establish a balanced, effective, and sustainable European security architecture; and to bear in mind the principle of indivisible security, he said.

Sun also called for the protection of civilians.

He said China will continue to play a constructive role in advancing a political resolution of the crisis. ■