- French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to travel to China
- The visit aims to shore up support from Chinese President Xi Jinping for the end of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine
- Von der Leyen criticized Xi's continued friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin
French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are set to visit China in an attempt to discuss potential peace talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The trip comes after Beijing's leader traveled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin to discuss various topics of interest to both parties. Now, Macron and von der Leyen seek to convince their Chinese counterpart to take a "shared responsibility for peace" in Ukraine amid the continued conflict.
European Leaders Visit China
On Wednesday, Macron arrived in Beijing for a three-day state visit after he said that it would have been a mistake to not talk to Xi regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This is primarily due to the Chinese president's potential level of influence on Putin, as per the Financial Times.
Macron, in reference to China's 12-point plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, said that they did not agree with everything that Beijing had put out. However, he noted that the plan itself showed a willingness to play a responsible role and an attempt to build a road to peace.
The French president added that Europeans would be making a mistake if they allow Russia to be the only European nation to speak with China. Macron and von der Leyen will be walking a delicate line with the Chinese president during their Thursday meeting.
On top of the discussions regarding Russia and its war on Ukraine, Macron is seeking to reboot the broader Franco-Chinese relationship from trade to culture at a time when the coronavirus pandemic is slowly declining.
China Urged to Support Call for End of Russia-Ukraine War
The two European leaders are thought to play the roles of the good cop and bad cop during their trip to China. Macron is seen as the former as he allegedly found "points of convergence with Chinese proposals" in ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to BBC.
On the other hand, von der Leyen is expected to play the bad cop role due to her close ties with United States President Joe Biden as well as her vocal support of NATO's efforts. A few days before the two European leaders' arrival in China, the European Commission president made a strongly-worded speech where she criticized Xi's continued friendship with Putin.
Von der Leyen also stressed that any plan to consolidate Russian annexations, which was a reference to China's 12-point plan, was simply "not viable." Furthermore, she pushed the idea of "de-risking," which is a more moderate version of the U.S.'s idea of decoupling from China.
In her speech, she added that it was clear that their relations have become more distant and far more difficult in the last few years. Von der Leyen argued that they have seen a very deliberate doubling down of China's strategic posture for some time now. She noted that this came with an increase of assertive actions on the global stage, said CNBC.
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