Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday that he is ready to call his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, at the right time, a source with the French president’s delegation in Beijing said.
Xi made these remarks during his conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron in the Chinese capital, a French diplomat who attended the meeting told AFP news agency.
The French head of state, in turn, will have “pressured Xi Jinping not to give Russia anything that could be used in the war against Ukraine,” the diplomatic source said.
Western countries fear that China will supply weapons to Russia and that Russia will use them in the war in Ukraine.
Emmanuel Macron and Xi Jinping also called during their meeting on Thursday to hold talks “as soon as possible” to end Ukraine’s ongoing war and rejected the use of nuclear weapons.
In joint statements following a bilateral meeting at the Grand Palace of the People in Beijing, Macron said it was necessary to “resume talks as soon as possible to achieve a lasting peace”.
For his part, Xi said that “nuclear weapons cannot be used” and condemned any “attack on civilians”. Macron stressed that he is counting on China to “bring Russia to its senses and bring all parties to the negotiating table”.
China recently released a proposal calling for “a political solution” to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
China’s 12-point plan has been criticized by the West for putting “the aggressor and the victim” on the same level.
The Chinese leader traveled to Moscow in late March to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and present his peace proposals.
Russia praised China’s willingness to play what it believes is a positive role in finding a solution to “the Ukrainian crisis”.
Source: DN
