According to political analysts, the hopes that the French president will be able to convince Chinese President Xi Jinping to change his position on the war between Russia and Ukraine are likely to be very low.
Emmanuel Macron’s blatant diplomatic blunder is also unlikely to improve matters after he spoke twice as long as Xi in a post-meeting press conference.
Mr Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen flew to Beijing on Wednesday to urge Mr Xi to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Elysee Palace called the talks “sincere and constructive.”
“I know I can count on you to bring Russia to its senses and get everyone back to the negotiating table,” Macron said.
He said that the West must defeat China to help end the crisis and avoid a situation where the world powers are divided into different warring blocs. Xi responded that he “hopes Moscow and Kyiv can hold peace talks as soon as possible.”
This was reported by a French diplomatic source. Reuters that Mr. Xi was willing to talk to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, whom he had not spoken to since the start of the war, although he had visited Russian President Vladimir Putin several times.
But Professor Steve Tsang, director of China’s Soas Institute, said Xi’s promise to talk to Zelenskiy was not really a big concession.
“Xi will do what Xi intends, and I doubt that Macron or von der Leyen will be able to change Xi’s plan much,” said Professor Tsang. I.
A clear diplomatic oversight reported by policy, Mr Macron spoke twice as long as Mr Xi at the post-meeting press conference, which reportedly made Mr Xi appear impatient and flustered.
The Chinese president reportedly took a deep breath and looked embarrassed when Macron approached him directly to discuss their shared responsibility for keeping the peace.
Professor Tsang said that this tension would only strengthen Xi Jinping’s determination to “do what he wants.”
“European leaders are at least doing Xi a favor by not allowing Xi to discredit himself – a world leader who promises to make peace over the war in Ukraine but only spoke to the occupying leader is discrediting himself,” he added.
“Xi’s policy has been consistent in its inconsistency since the beginning of the war, and it is to declare neutrality, support Putin but refuse to pay the price. As long as Xi sticks to it.”
Reem Momtaz, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, agrees. She said expectations after the meeting should be “very low” given the complexity of the task.
She said Macron was trying to flatter the Chinese leader by calling him a fellow permanent member of the Security Council and a major nuclear power, but there was a loophole in that approach.
“In no way did he specify the costs that France might demand from China if China does not live up to its obligations as a permanent member of the Security Council and work to get Russia to stop its invasion. “.
Miss Momtaz says I that she did not notice any significant change in Mr. Xi’s words. He continued to say that he would promote peace and security, but did not take any concrete action.
“As we saw today at their joint press conference, the PRC President was still very vague about the war in Ukraine. He never called it a war, never talked about a Russian invasion, never blamed Russia for it. He talked about it vaguely, in terms of some kind of crisis, and we could see from his actions that he was completely on the side of Russia.”
During the meeting, France and China also signed agreements between French state-owned EDF and Chinese utility CGN to relaunch their longstanding partnership.
Agreements were also signed between EDF and the China Energy Investment Corporation for offshore wind power.