French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen pressed Xi Jinping at a summit in Paris on Monday (May 6) to use Beijing’s influence to halt the Russian war against Ukraine, also telling the Chinese leader to accept fair global trade rules.
Xi’s two-day state visit to France is his first visit to Europe since 2019, on a trip that will also see him hold talks in Serbia and Hungary. But he is expected to argue for the status quo, and analysts do not predict any major breakthrough on Ukraine or trade.
Opening an initial trilateral meeting attended by von der Leyen, Macron said coordination with Beijing on “major crises” including Ukraine was “absolutely decisive” and urged “fair rules for all” in Europe-China trade.
“The future of our continent will very clearly depend on our ability to continue to develop relations with China in a balanced manner,” Macron said.
Xi said China and the EU should “remain partners” and “carry out strategic coordination” and thus “make new contributions to world peace and development”.
Europe is concerned that while officially neutral over the Ukraine conflict, China is essentially backing Russia, which is using Chinese machine tools in arms production.
“More effort is needed to curtail delivery of dual-use goods to Russia that find their way to the battlefield,” von der Leyen said after talks, adding that “this does affect EU-China relations”.
She added that France and the EU also “count on China to use all its influence on Russia to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”, saying both Europe and China “have a shared interest in peace and security”.
After a bilateral meeting with Xi, Macron welcomed China’s “commitments” not to supply arms to Russia, while also expressing concern over possible deliveries of dual-use technology.
He thanked Xi for backing his idea of a truce in all conflicts including Ukraine during the Paris Olympics this summer and pointedly added that “we do not have an approach seeking regime change in Moscow”.
Defending China’s stance, Xi warned against using the Ukraine crisis “to cast blame, smear a third country and incite a new Cold War”.
