Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday in Beijing that China could “play a major role” in “finding a path of peace” in Ukraine, at the start of a visit aimed at renewing face-to-face dialogue with his Chinese counterpart Xi. Jinping.
China, “on the strength of its close relationship with Russia, further reaffirmed in recent days” with the Chinese president’s recent state visit to Moscow, can “play a major role” in resolving the conflict, he said. estimated.
The “dialogue” with the Beijing authorities is therefore “indispensable”, added the French president.
“China precisely proposed a peace plan […] It is indeed a desire to have a responsibility and to try to build a path towards peace”, declared Mr. Macron before the community of his fellow citizens, whose “remarkable courage” he praised after the long restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, lifted only at the end of the year.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, never formally condemned by Beijing, is at the top of the issues he intends to address Thursday during an intense series of discussions with Xi Jinping.
“This war, which on several occasions I have qualified as imperialist, colonial, has in fact trampled on many of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, which the two members of the Security Council that we are must resolutely defend,” he said of France and China.
“I believe that defending them also means walking together and trying to find a path of peace,” added President Macron.
Not “separate” from China
The French head of state, who had not returned to China since 2019 due to the health crisis, wanted to distance himself from an approach tinged with confrontation adopted in recent years by the United States with regard to their Asian rival. And of a form of fatality.
“Increasingly, we are hearing voices of strong concern about the future of relations between the West and China. And somehow conclude with a form of irresistible spiral of growing tensions, ”he lamented.
“I do not want to believe in this scenario”, he immediately hammered.
To show Europe’s unity on this position of “commitment”, he asked the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen to accompany him on Thursday for one of his talks with Xi Jinping.
Surrounded by an imposing assembly of more than 50 French business leaders, including those of Airbus, EDF and Veolia, Mr. Macron felt that France and the European Union should not “separate” from China on economically, but maintain a “realistic and ambitious path”.
“We must not disassociate ourselves, separate ourselves from China” but “commit proactively to continue to have a commercial relationship”, he pleaded, assuring that “several important contracts will be signed” Thursday.
“Not to negotiate peace”
After the remoteness due to the pandemic, Paris is therefore betting on “reconnection” at all levels with this three-day state visit, which will take it to Canton (South) on Friday.
In the evening, Emmanuel Macron insisted on cultural ties by inaugurating the Franco-Chinese festival “Croisements”. He is accompanied by director Jean-Jacques Annaud, musician Jean-Michel Jarre and, on the Chinese side, by actress Gong Li and painter Yan Pei-ming.
Until recently, France did not hide its hope of seeing the Chinese president play mediator between Ukraine and Russia and use his influence with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to convince him to resolve to peace negotiations.
Since then, events have disappointed these expectations: Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin have renewed their alliance in the guise of an anti-Western front. Several capitals, starting with Washington, fear that China will end up supplying arms to Russia.
In response to questions from journalists, Mr. Macron warned that “anyone who helps the aggressor would put themselves in the position of being complicit in a violation of international law”. “It’s not China’s interest,” he said.
He clarified, however, that he would not brandish the threat of sanctions Thursday against Xi Jinping, because “it is never a good way to engage than to threaten”. And also admitted not having “read in the Chinese declarations, nor even at the end of the summit held in Moscow, any stated desire to deliver arms to Russia”.
Lucid, he also admitted: “we are not going to negotiate peace during this trip […] the conditions are not met”.
He could still encourage his Chinese counterpart to finally call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “I think it’s a good thing to talk to the president of Ukraine in the context,” noted the French president.
Before taking off for Beijing on Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron spoke by telephone with his American counterpart Joe Biden, evoking a “common desire to engage China in accelerating the end of the war in Ukraine and participating in the construction of peace. sustainable development in the region”, according to the French presidency.
The French delegation has promised to raise the issue of human rights, particularly in the Xinjiang region, which according to several observers is plagued by severe repression against Uyghur Muslims.
