After the failure of its bets on Russia’s rapid defeat in the Ukraine war, and the accumulation of its economic losses as a result of the war, Europe’s eyes are turning to China as a mediator in shortening the conflict and reaching peace.
And there followed statements from France, on Friday, regarding the objectives of President Emmanuel Macron’s visit, scheduled for April 5-8, to China, with regard to Ukraine:
- The Elysee Palace announced that Macron will work with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to “restore peace” in Ukraine.
- Macron said on the sidelines of the European Union Council meeting that his country hopes that China will intervene immediately to persuade Russia to negotiate.
- He emphasized that China’s initiative to end the crisis should be the starting point for an immediate solution.
- He stressed that this was the position of the rest of Europe as well, and said that the continent had a point of view that it wanted to get Beijing to put as much pressure as possible on Russia to stop the conflict.
Reckless use of weapons
At the end of last week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned that the possibility of a nuclear escalation in Ukraine is at its highest level, after it was reported that Britain had provided Kiev with weapons containing depleted uranium.
In this context, Macron spoke of serious concerns in Europe about the use of chemical or biological weapons, saying that he would ask China to intervene to ensure that matters did not come to this, and to persuade Russia to calm down.
On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country had sent 10 fighters to Belarus (his neighboring ally and Ukraine) that could carry tactical nuclear weapons.
“loser” Europe
The expert on Chinese affairs, Mazen Hassan, explained the reasons for Europe’s “urgent” approach to China to end the war, saying:
- Europe realized its losses as a result of the war, such as high inflation, demonstrations of anger caused by high prices, stopping Russian gas, and food shortages.
- On the other hand, the country that benefits most is the United States, by selling gas at four times its price to Europe, after it caused the suspension of Russian gas supplies to the continent.
- For this reason, Europe has become in urgent need to end the conflict in any way, even if relations with Washington have become somewhat strained.
- China presented itself as a serious peace broker with its latest initiative.
- The preparation for Macron’s visit to China comes amid massive protests in several French cities, rejecting the law to raise the retirement age approved by the government due to insufficient budget.
A new international pole
“China has recently presented itself as a new, effective international pole, after everyone realized that America is moving according to its interests,” according to the assessment of international affairs expert Jasser Matar, one of the motives for Europe’s move towards Beijing.
Matar believes that acceptance of Chinese mediation has become “closer to reality and implementation,” expecting that when Beijing contacted countries in Europe about the initiative, it was able to convince them of it.
However, at the same time, Matar pointed out in his interview with “Sky News Arabia” the need for “Europe to pressure Washington to respond to it,” due to the strong influence of the US administration on the Ukrainian side.
Chinese initiative
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced it at the Munich Security Conference last February, saying, “This war cannot continue to rage… the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all countries will be respected in China’s proposal… Beijing will continue to work for peace.”
Moscow welcomed the proposal of China and some European countries, while Washington questioned Beijing’s intentions.
