The French president – who ends his visit to China this Friday by taking his delegation of politicians, businessmen and public figures to Guangzhou – and the president of the European Commission in turn urged host Xi Jinping to refrain from weapons and technology supply to Russia and use its “unlimited partnership” with Moscow to bring Putin’s regime to the negotiating table. A ready scenario rejected by the Kremlin.
Shortly before the trilateral meeting between Xi Jinping, Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen in Beijing, a diplomatic success was achieved for the Chinese regime: Foreign Minister Qin Gang saw his colleagues from Saudi Arabia and Iran sign a joint statement decision on the resumption of diplomatic relations with immediate effect. It is the second step of an agreement brokered by Beijing in March that sees Tehran and Riyadh commit to reopening diplomatic missions closed in 2016 after the Saudis’ execution of a Shiite cleric led to the invasion. from the embassy. and from the consulate by Iranian gangs.
“I know I can count on you to bring Russia to its senses and bring everyone back to the negotiating table,” Macron said during the first of several meetings with Xi, and on his first official visit to China since 2019. In turn, reaffirmed “the commitment to facilitating peace talks and a political solution to the Ukrainian crisis”, and issued a “joint appeal” with France on several issues, including not using nuclear weapons, resuming peace talks as soon as possible, or respecting the Charter of the United Nations.
The joint visit of European leaders to Beijing showed a complementary approach, in what the BBC described as “the good cop and the bad cop”. While the French head of state stated that results are obtained “when you are respectful and not when you preach”, the heaviest role was for the German when he reaffirmed that any supply of weapons to Russia by Beijing would be to launch a red flag. wire to cross. line to the EU, and would therefore “significantly harm” the relationship.
“We hope China plays its part and promotes a just peace that respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. I have underlined my strong support for Zelensky’s peace plan,” said the head of the European Commission, who “encouraged” Xi to to contact the Ukrainian leader. and heard in response that he is interested in speaking when “the time and circumstances are right”. The Chinese leader says he remains neutral in the face of the war, but he has never condemned the Russian invasion or spoken to the Ukrainian leader since, visiting Vladimir Putin recently.
Despite requests from Macron and von der Leyen, the Kremlin seems uninterested in Chinese mediation. “Of course China has formidable and effective potential as a mediator. But the situation with Ukraine is complex and at the moment there is no prospect of a political solution,” said Dmitri Peskov. In other words, “there is no other solution than to continue with the special operation,” concluded the spokesman for the Russian presidency.
Although dominated by the war, the journeys still had a commercial component. Both France and the EU want to strengthen relations with Beijing in some cases and redefine them in others, which Brussels has seen as a “negotiating partner” and “systemic rival” since 2020.
Sino-French agreements were signed in civil nuclear industry and agriculture. The aviation company Airbus announced the doubling of production capacity in China from 2025, with the opening of a second assembly line.
The leader of the European Commission, on the other hand, defined the relationship with China as “extensive and complex”, saying the EU’s trade deficit is on an “unsustainable” trend, having more than tripled in the past decade.
Trade Crimea?
The Ukrainian government has said it is ready to negotiate with Russia over the future status of Crimea if it succeeds in regaining territory bordering the peninsula. “If we succeed in achieving our strategic objectives on the battlefield, and when we reach the administrative border with Crimea, we are ready to open a diplomatic page to address this issue,” said Andrii Sybiha, deputy chief of staff of President Volodymyr Zelensky. , to the Financial times. But he added: “This doesn’t mean we rule out liberation [da Crimeia] by the military.”
President Mikhailo Podolyak’s adviser later came to clarify that “the basis for real negotiations” is the “complete withdrawal” of Russian troops “beyond the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine in 1991”.
Source: DN
