BEIJING, Feb. 12 -- China welcomes the Minsk agreement on Ukraine crisis by leaders from Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine, saying it helps ease tensions in eastern Ukraine.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a press release on Thursday that China has always believed that a political resolution is "the only way out" for the Ukraine crisis.

"We hope all parties could respect the hard-won results and implement the consensus at an early date to bring peace and stability to Ukraine,"she said.

French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel,

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin reached an agreement Thursday after 16 hours of talks in Minsk, capital of Belarus, including a ceasefire from Feb. 15, clear timelines for elections in eastern Ukraine, border control and prisoner exchange.

Government troops and insurgents have been locked in fierce confrontation in eastern Ukraine since April 2014, leaving more than 5,000 dead and over 12,000 wounded.