China's President Xi Jinping, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von de Leyen meet in Beijing, Apr. 6, 2023. (Photo by Ludovic Marin/ Pool / AFP)
Politico: Macron fails to move Xi Jinping over Russia’s war on Ukraine
French leader also commits diplomatic faux pas at Beijing press conference.
BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping showed no sign of changing his position over Russia’s war on Ukraine after talks Thursday with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
On the second day of Macron’s state visit to China, Xi took his long-standing line on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — saying that “all sides” have “reasonable security concerns” — and gave no hint he would use his influence to help end the conflict.
“China is willing to jointly appeal with France to the international community to remain rational and calm,” was as far as the Chinese leader would go during a press conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
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WNU Editor: French President Macron And EU President Ursula von der Leyen belief that they could go to Beijing and change Chinese President X's mind on Russia just two weeks after President Xi told Russian President Putin that together they were going to make changes on a global level not seen in 100 years is baffling to me.
And it gets worse from there.
French President Macron talked more than twice as long as President Xi, and even more during the press conference. EU President Ursula von der Leyen's just issued threats .... Ursula von der Leyen warns China not to send arms to Russia (The Guardian).
The media optics showed both European leaders doing a lot of talking, but were the listening? My gut says no.
But what was really telling is that every-time Macron brought up Ukraine, you can tell by President Xi's sighs that he wanted to discuss other issues.