Macron presses Xi to halt Ukraine war

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen pressed Xi Jinping at a summit in Paris on Monday to use Beijing’s influence to halt the Russian war against Ukraine, also telling the Chinese leader to accept fair global trade rules.

Xi’s two-day state visit to France is his first visit to Europe since 2019 on a trip that will also see him hold talks in Serbia and Hungary. He has said he wants to find peace in Ukraine even if analysts do not expect any major breakthrough.

Opening an initial trilateral meeting attended by von der Leyen, Macron said coordination with Beijing on “major crises” including Ukraine was “absolutely decisive” and urged “fair rules for all” in Europe-China trade.

“The future of our continent will very clearly depend on our ability to continue to develop relations with China in a balanced manner,” Macron said.Xi said China and the EU should “remain partners” and “carry out strategic coordination” and thus “make new contributions to world peace and development”.

Europe is concerned that while officially neutral in the Ukraine conflict, China is essentially backing Russia which is already using Chinese machine tools in arms production.“More effort is needed to curtail delivery of dual use goods to Russia that find their way to the battlefield,” von der Leyen said after talks, adding that “this does affect EU-China relations”.

She added that France and the EU also “count on China to use all its influence on Russia to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” saying both Europe and China “have a shared in interest in peace and security”.

Von der Leyen also said she was “confident” Xi Jinping would continue to play an “important role” in de-escalating tensions over nuclear threats made by Russia, hours after President Vladimir Putin ordered nuclear weapons drills involving troops based near Ukraine.China regards Europe as a priority of its foreign policy, and sees China-EU relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, President Xi Jinping said on Monday in Paris.