PARIS, April 7. /TASS/. The visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to China hasn’t caused a turnaround in Beijing’s position about the Ukrainian conflict and Russia, Le Monde reported on Friday.
The French president on Thursday tried to convince his Chinese counterpart "to bring Russia to its senses," but Chinese President Xi Jinping "has not broken the benevolence displayed by Beijing towards Moscow," the newspaper said in a story about the talks of the two leaders.
According to an unidentified French diplomat, the call that Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang made to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin before the visit of the Western delegation and the headlines of Chinese newspapers about deepening ties between Moscow and Beijing came as a "real cold shower." The newspaper said that Macron "doubted the true intentions of his vis-a-vis" because he does not really know "which side China could take," especially after the French leader "did not get the Chinese leader to condemn the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin" to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
According to the newspaper, the "path of peace" that Macron is trying to walk "so far resembles a dead end." It draws attention to the fact that, despite the frank handshakes during the meeting, the Chinese leader "is content with only small steps," for example, promising to talk with the president of Ukraine, but only when the conditions are right for this. In this context, Macron, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, tried to convey their position to Xi Jinping that providing assistance to Russia would make China an "accomplice to the aggression" and urged "not to supply Russia with anything that would help it in the conflict in Ukraine."
However, such statements, including von der Leyen's words that China's position on the Ukrainian conflict "will become a determining factor in its future relations with the EU," caused only a negative reaction among Chinese functionaries. "The Ukrainian crisis is not a problem between China and the EU," the newspaper quoted the Chinese government as saying.
Useful diplomacy
Former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who was a member of Macron’s delegation and is considered a major expert on China, told the newspaper that the current visit highlighted the "privileged role" of Paris, which allows France to "convey messages to Mr. Xi on behalf of Europe." He also expressed the opinion that the Chinese leader possibly intends to "send messages" to Europe through France.
In addition, the newspaper drew attention to the fact that the Chinese president asked Europe to abandon the bloc thinking of the Cold War, emphasizing its standalone position relative to the United States. The newspaper also pointed to a warning in this context that Xi Jinping sent to the Eastern European states that are "the US closest allies" and "toughened the tone toward Beijing after the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict."