A major diplomatic visit. From the Agricultural Show, Emmanuel Macron announced on Saturday February 25 that he would visit China “in early April”, calling on Beijing to “help us put pressure on Russia” in order to “stop the aggression” and “building peace”.
The day after China published a document calling for peace talks and a “political solution”, the French head of state explained that this peace was “possible only if it goes through a Russian aggression, a troop withdrawal and respect for the territorial sovereignty and the Ukrainian people”.
“The fact that China is engaging in peace efforts is absolutely good,” Emmanuel Macron praised, calling on Beijing to “not deliver any weapons to Russia” and to “help us put pressure on Russia to that obviously it never uses either chemical or nuclear, and that it stops this aggression prior to a negotiation”.
China has been seeking for several weeks to play a mediating role in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. In its twelve-point document published a year to the day after the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, Beijing clearly opposes any recourse to nuclear weapons while Vladimir Putin has brandished this threat.
While Westerners generally greeted this Chinese diplomatic intervention with skepticism, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to “work” with Beijing and announced his intention to meet his counterpart Xi Jinping. Russia said it “appreciated” the Chinese efforts, while insisting on the need to recognize the Russian annexation of four Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow.
On the diplomatic front, Beijing announced a state visit, from Tuesday February 28 to Thursday March 2, by Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Vladimir Putin. Belarus has lent its territory for the launch of the Russian offensive against Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Kazakhstan, an economic heavyweight in Central Asia, an ally of Russia, but which has so far maintained a position of equilibrium on the Ukrainian conflict, supported the Chinese proposals.
Strategic partner of Moscow, China had abstained, Thursday, February 23, during the vote of a resolution by the General Assembly of the UN demanding an “immediate” withdrawal of Russian troops. On Saturday, it obstructed a joint communiqué from the G20 Finance meeting in India, according to several officials familiar with the discussions. Moscow said it “shares Beijing’s considerations” while insisting on the need to “recognize the new territorial realities”.
“I want to believe that China will be on the side of a just world, that is, on our side,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
