Russia-Ukraine war: Macron certain to raise invasion with China on Beijing trip, says envoy

Name: China releases 12-point position paper on 1-year anniversary of Russian invasion of Ukraine
Uploaded: 2023-02-24T06:58:44.000Z
Duration: 2 min 21 s
Description: China releases 12-point position paper on 1-year anniversary of Russian invasion of Ukraine

‘We really need to work together with China to convince Russia to stop this war’: France’s consul general in Hong Kong

Paris and Beijing have stepped up exchanges since Xi and Macron last met at the G20 summit in Bali

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French President Emmanuel Macron, pictured in June with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is expected to visit China in the coming months. Photo: AP

Hayley Wong

Published: 2:58pm, 24 Feb 2023Updated: 6:37pm, 24 Feb 2023

During his visit to Beijing, French President Emmanuel Macron will urge China to join European forces in trying to stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a French diplomat said on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the war.

As the European Union continues to provide humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine and call on Russia to withdraw its troops, France’s consul general in Hong Kong Christile Drulhe said “we really need to work together with China to convince Russia to stop this war”.

“Our president will certainly raise [the issue of] Ukraine when he goes to China,” she said on Thursday in an academic forum at the University of Hong Kong, adding that China is a permanent member of the Security Council of the UN, which should uphold the principle of sovereignty.

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China releases 12-point position paper on 1-year anniversary of Russian invasion of Ukraine

Macron is expected to visit China in spring for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began as an effort to resume regular dialogue after bilateral relations became entangled by China’s close ties with Russia and human rights issues.

In a similar time frame, Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit Moscow for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a push for multiparty peace talks on the war.

Paris and Beijing have stepped up exchanges since Xi and Macron last met at the G20 summit in Bali. It was the first time Macron asked in person for China’s help to end the conflict in Ukraine, saying he believed China could play a “mediating role”.

Last week, Macron met China’s most senior diplomat Wang Yi in Paris and exchanged “in-depth views about the Ukraine issue”. Wang told the French president that China “is committed to promoting peace talks”, a stance he said had been consistent.