Paris and Beijing agreed to support any effort to restore peace in Ukraine on the basis of international law in a joint statement that fell short of French President Emmanuel Macron’s hopes for his three-day China visit.
(Bloomberg) — Paris and Beijing agreed to support any effort to restore peace in Ukraine on the basis of international law in a joint statement that fell short of French President Emmanuel Macron’s hopes for his three-day China visit.
The Chinese backing of a negotiated endgame was cast by a top French official as a sign the world’s second-biggest economy is willing to effectively engage in peace efforts.
Macron had hoped, however, to persuade his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to use his influence on Russian President Vladimir Putin to help end the war.
“I know I can count on you to bring Russia back to reason and everybody to the negotiation table,” Macron told Xi at a meeting in Beijing on Thursday.
The Chinese president refrained from mentioning Russia or Putin in public remarks during the visit. China’s commitment didn’t go beyond its existing 12-point proposal to end the conflict.
As for a much-awaited call between Xi and Ukraine’s president, it didn’t appear to have moved closer. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who accompanied Macron during one of the meetings, said China’s leader would phone Volodymyr Zelenskiy when the “conditions and time are right.”
The almost five hours Macron and Xi spent together did pave the way for further joint work toward peace, a top French official said, however, stressing that France didn’t expect China to completely shift sides in the war. At the end of their final meeting on Friday, Xi thanked Macron for clarifying matters, according to the official.
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