French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday said he was counting on Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to “bring Russia to its senses” over its war in Ukraine.
The French president, who arrived on Wednesday for a three-day state visit, has made clear he is seeking to dissuade China from supporting Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.
“I know I can count on you to bring Russia to its senses and everyone to the negotiating table,” Macron told Xi during a bilateral meeting in Beijing.
Photo: AFP
In a joint statement following those talks, the two leaders reaffirmed their call for peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow “as soon as possible.”
However, the Kremlin later said it saw no “prospect” for China to mediate the Ukraine conflict and said it had “no other way” than to press on with its offensive.
The visit comes in the face of mounting Chinese pressure on Taiwan, with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) meeting with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California on Wednesday.
Macron told journalists on Wednesday he did not think Xi had “a desire to overreact” to the Tsai-McCarthy meeting.
To coincide with the Macron-Xi meeting, China Central Television released a report in which Xi hailed China’s “positive and steady” ties with France as the world undergoes “profound historical changes.”
Macron has said during his trip that Beijing can play a “major role” in finding a path to peace in the conflict and welcomed China’s “willingness to commit to a resolution.”
His visit to China — his first since 2019 — comes as Western pressure mounts on Beijing to help push for peace in Ukraine.
Although Beijing is officially neutral, Xi has never condemned the Russian invasion.
While he recently went to Moscow to reaffirm his alliance with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Xi has not spoken on the telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Macron, who is accompanied on his visit by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said he wants to “be a voice that unites Europe” over Ukraine, and that coming to China with her serves to “underline the consistency of this approach.”
In a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強), Von der Leyen said that relations between the EU and China had grown “complex in recent years.”
“It is important that we discuss all aspects of this relationship together today,” she said, especially in the current “volatile geopolitical environment.”
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