Emmanuel Macron, on a state visit to Beijing, told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday that he was counting on him to “bring Russia to reason” vis-à-vis Ukraine.
“I know I can count on you to bring Russia to reason and everyone to the negotiating table,” the French head of state told Mr. Xi during an official bilateral meeting.
For his part, the Chinese president hailed the ties with France in a world in “profound historical change”.
The two leaders will then make statements to the press at 5:30 p.m., then a trilateral meeting will be held in the presence of the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, also in Beijing.
“Volatile geopolitical environment”
The objective of the two European leaders? Make their voices heard with Xi Jinping, a close ally of Moscow whom they do not despair of seeing play a role for peace in Ukraine.
Received in the morning by Prime Minister Li Qiang, Emmanuel Macron “discussed the conflict in Ukraine”, according to the French presidency. “In these troubled times that we are going through”, he underlined “the importance” of “dialogue between China and France”.
He then spoke with the President of the National Assembly Zhao Leji, with whom he “underlined the impacts of the war in Ukraine on security and global strategic balances”.
For her part, Mrs von der Leyen, received by Li Qiang, underlined that “EU-China relations have become complex in recent years, and it is important that we discuss all aspects of this relationship together today”. , especially in this “volatile geopolitical environment”.
Pression
In recent weeks, international pressure has mounted a notch on China to encourage it to get involved for peace in Ukraine. Because, if Beijing says it is officially neutral, Xi Jinping has never condemned the Russian invasion or even spoken on the phone with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodomyr Zelensky.
Conversely, he recently went to Moscow to reaffirm his alliance with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the guise of an anti-Western front.
In this context, Emmanuel Macron has the ambition to “be a voice that unites Europe”, which is why he invited the President of the European Commission to accompany him, as he recalled on Wednesday in a speech. .
On the first day of his three-day state visit, the French president said on Wednesday that Beijing could play a “major role” in “finding a path of peace” in Ukraine, citing the 12-point document on the Chinese position published in February.
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Ursula von der Leyen, for her part, issued a much harsher warning last week in Brussels: “How China continues to react to Putin’s war will be a determining factor in the future of relations between the EU and China”.