Macron’s three-day visit aims at getting China to exert pressure on Russia for ceasefire deal with Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Xi Jinping that their two countries must overcome their “differences” during a trip to Beijing focused on economic and geopolitical cooperation.
The two leaders met in China’s capital Beijing on Thursday, holding wide-ranging talks at the Great Hall of the People that ranged from ending the war in Ukraine to redressing global economic imbalances.
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“Sometimes there are differences, but it is our responsibility to overcome them for the greater good,” Macron told Xi. “Our capacity to work together is decisive,” he said, making a direct reference to Ukraine.
Reporting from Beijing, Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu said it was unclear whether any agreement was made. “Macron and other EU leaders have accused China of providing crucial economic support for Russia’s war effort and providing military components for its defence industry, something that Beijing has denied,” she said.
China has never condemned Russia for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Macron’s visit to China, his fourth since taking office, came straight after he met Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris as delicate US-brokered ceasefire efforts continue. Zelenskyy is eager to ensure his country maintains territory and sovereignty as Russia seeks to annex large chunks of the east.
“What we want … is that China can convince and influence Russia to move toward a ceasefire as quickly as possible,” a French diplomatic official told The Associated Press news agency, adding that Paris expected Beijing to “refrain from providing Russia with any means whatsoever to continue the war.”
Xi, for his part, responded to Macron’s overtures with calls to “make the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and France more stable”, with an oblique comment that China was willing to work with France “to exclude any interference”.
It was unclear what he was referring to, but Al Jazeera’s Yu said that self-governing Taiwan, which China sees as its territory, would be at the forefront of Beijing’s agenda. “Recently, it’s been in a diplomatic spat with Japan, and it wants France to reaffirm its commitment to the One China policy,” she said.
Trade formed a major part of discussions, with the European Union seeking more investments to help diminish its massive deficit, which has ballooned by nearly 60 percent since 2019, and China looking for diplomatic wins amid US tariffs.
“Our two countries have a role to play in laying out, with other partners, the foundations for rebalanced economic governance,” said Macron, who was accompanied by top executives from French companies Airbus, BNP Paribas and Alstom.
He called for China to work with G7 countries to create fairer and stronger rules, rather than a system based on “survival of the fittest”.
The two leaders signed 12 cooperation agreements following their talks, covering population ageing, bilateral investment, nuclear energy and panda conservation.
Xi on Friday will accompany Macron to southwestern China’s Sichuan province, where two giant pandas loaned to France were recently returned.
