French President Emmanuel Macron told Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday that he can count on the Chinese leader to bring Russia to “its senses” and bring the warring sides in Ukraine to the negotiating table.
“I know I can count on you … to bring Russia to its sense and bring everyone back to the negotiating table,” Macron said. “We need to find a lasting peace … I believe that this is also an important issue for China, as much as it is for France and for Europe.”
Following talks with Macron, Xi said China and France should work together to push for a political solution to end the war and avoid steps that would escalate the conflict. “China is willing to call on the international community, along with France, to maintain rationality and restraint, and avoid taking actions that will further escalate the crisis or make it out of control,” Xi said.
Macron made the trip to China with Ursula von der Leyen, the EU’s European Commission president. Von der Leyen said that Xi expressed a willingness to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and said a conversation could happen when “conditions and time are right.”
Xi emerged as a potential mediator between Russia and Ukraine after China released a 12-point peace plan for the conflict and he traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelensky has maintained maximalist demands as preconditions for peace talks but expressed an openness to China’s proposal and wants to speak with Xi.
President Biden has taken a much different approach to China’s calls for peace by immediately rejecting the idea of Beijing as a mediator. Ahead of Xi’s trip to Moscow, the White House came out against calls for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Buffoon says what? Did the man even realize where he was? I’m becoming increasingly suspicious that Macron and Blinken were hatched from the same egg.
The wise colonist can count on his man in China?
China’s has had a very busy month in diplomacy, Spanish PM visits a week ago, the Russian state visit, and now a state visit from France and the EU. In the meantime back home, McCarthy hosted a Tsai in an ‘unofficial’ meeting since we technically don’t even recognize Taiwan just to ratchet up tensions… What has Biden/Blinken done recently that can be counted as “diplomacy”? I feel like Blinken spends more time at NATO headquarters coming up with war plans than acting as a diplomat….
All the recent diplomacy from the EU shows that our bad faith attempt to encircle and isolate China is failing. Good for the EU in standing up to American hegemony and for their own economies. I hope China can act as a mediator to end this war – probably the most credible mediator between Russia and the west since we have evidently forgotten how to do diplomacy under the neocons…
Blinken is unqualified for the job. That’s it.
He has no idea what a diplomat does.
So now Ukraine, Russia, Europe and Turkey have all responded positively to China’s interest in mediating a settlement along the lines of China’s twelve point peace plan. The US is isolated in its adamant and unequivocal hostility to China. Europe recognizes that having good business and diplomatic ties with China is necessary to having a successful economy and foreign relations in the 21st century.
I hope commenters on this site recognize that NATO/EU and Ukraine are not controlled by the US. Ukraine turned to the West because Ukrainians believed that Putin intended to reestablish Russian dominion over their country. Putin proved they were right and that the peace of Europe depended on collectively standing up to Putin’s revanchism.
Despite Putin’s war, many European leaders and Turkey still want to return to detente with Russia and to open trade and cooperation with China.This is a great opportunity for China. But it depends on China convincing Ukraine that it will be a fair mediator.
The US and Putin are both afraid that China might be sympathetic to Ukraine’s demand for territorial integrity. That is how I interpreted Putin’s surprise (and out of character) trip to Crimea and Mariupol on the eve of Xi’s visit. China can read the map and the calendar as well as anybody. China recognizes that the war has been a military disaster for Russia and that Putin needs an exit strategy. Putin’s surprise visit to Ukraine was a somewhat desperate attempt to convince Xi that all was not lost.
I hope Xi meets with Zelenskyy soon and clarifies the first point of China’s peace plan that restates China’s historic commitment to independence and territorial integrity that has always been a key point of China’s foreign policy. In accordance with that policy China never recognized Russia’s annexation of Crimea or the Donbas.
Zelenskyy hopes that China remains true to those principles.
I suspect that China may wait to see how the spring offensives develop before attempting to bring Russia and Ukraine together for meaningful peace talks.
This is a very selective reading of the story above as well as recent events.
My reading is that China realizes the NATO and most EU pols are indeed US satraps. However, that does not mean that the European, and for that matter American, people are beyond hope. It may be that the people can, despite the overwhelming propaganda they are being subject to, realize that peace and trade are indeed preferable to war and poverty.
China just wants to minimize damage to its interests until western peoples wake up and smell the MICIMATT.
I think many Europeans are reachable, as they are more directly affected by this circus/zoo. But Americans? I seriously doubt it.
“I hope commenters on this site recognize that NATO/EU and Ukraine are not controlled by the US.”
And how exactly would NATO exist without the US? Here’s the top ten and how much they spend:
United States — 811,140
United Kingdom — 72,765
Germany — 64,785
France — 58,729
Italy — 29,763
Canada — 26,523
Spain — 14,875
Netherlands — 14,378
Poland — 13,369
Turkey — 13,057
Kind of reminds one of military budgets.
Dependent on US is not the same as controlled by US.
The world is not as simple as some commenters in th epeanut gallery think.
It is easy to say US is all bad and controls everything and Russia is all good.
Reality is more complicated than that.
“Dependent on US is not the same as controlled by US.”
I don’t even think you believe that. Washington would never make demands just because without them, NATO doesn’t exist. They just aren’t the kind to do such things. Right??
And I don’t know who you include in the “peanut gallery”, but I have yet to say anything that implies that I think Russia is good. I don’t know of a country on earth that is good. And I blame the US for what the US does.
No empire or alliance lasts forever. US is in decline and the sovereign states of NATO and Ukraine are evaluating their long term options. And they are smart enough to know that China is important to their futures.
I saw OPEC rise out of the ashes of the Vietnam War. For a time it challenged US control of the middle east ans US support for Zionism. US imperialism rebounded under Reagan. But the Vietnam war and OPEC gave us a glimpse of the future.
Zelenskyy is motivated by Ukrainian nationalism, not subservience to the US. He depends on the US out of necessity.
Likewise, the NATO members depend on the US out of necessity.
China’s entry gives NATO members and Ukraine the possibility of options which they are tentatively exploring.
China has been doing foreign relations for almost 4,000 years.They are patient and I hope they are wise.
I don’t trust any state completely. But China, unlike the US, Russia, and UK has consistently avoided war. I am waiting to see what comes of Xi’s meeting with Zelenskyy when it happens. We may be pleasantly surprised.
None of that first paragraph explains away the US influence, $811,141 worth, on NATO now.
And whatever Zelensky’s motivation is doesn’t really matter. The fact that he depends on the US means he is subservient to the US. Same with NATO. What US are you thinking of?
$811,141 – WTF man according to google the US contributes 3.47% of it’s GDP to help fund NATO. 2021 US GDP was $23 trillion and 3.47% 0f that is $0.782 trillion.
Ever heard the saying “he who pays the piper calls the tune?”
The US calls the shots in nato, full stop.
The world is not as simple as you think.
Rome called the shots in its empire until it didn’t.
UK called the shots in its empire until it didn’t.
Like people, nations pursue their self interest and make choices.
China has been playing the game for 4,000 years.
Obviously, the US empire is still able to foot a substantial portion of NATO’s funding. And as long as that is happening the US will call the shots.
It is really not that simple. The post WWII US footed most of the bill for the UN and the Bagdad Pact, but could not get everyone to roll over all the time, especially after the US began to lose in Vietnam.
Ukraine, Germany, France and Turkey are pursuing their own interests that do not always coincide with what Washington wants.
When those interests are pursued over something Washington wants bad enough, they will and have caved to Wahington’s whims. And when they do stand up for real, the funding will stop, and the empire will have declined enough to make the US influence negligible.
I know you know this, but when it comes to boilerplate, Skywalker faithfully follows the Biden administration propaganda line that if you repeat BS often enough, people will ingest and repeat it.
WTF are those annual dollar amounts?
NATO’s latest budget was a trillion dollars.
and in 2021 the US contributed 0.782 trillion dollars to NATO.
I’m not a math wizard but wouldn’t $811 million be 0.811 trillion?
yes x million, thanx now i get it
Biden said he “wasn’t interested”. The diplomat. /s
Pure BS. This is propaganda as repeated daily by the so-called journalistic community and TV personalities.
You speak of actors in this play as if you are personally aware of their thoughts.
We need an option to exercise weighted downvotes…
Biden – and his neocons – MUST go.
I despise both US political parties.
But it is obvious that Biden’s neocon WH is nothing but bad for world peace.
I wonder if China can help bring peace to Macron’s war using the french government against french people.
What an absurd creature. The point is to bring Washington, not Russia, to its senses.
“I know I can count on you … to bring Russia to its sense and bring everyone back to the negotiating table,” Macron said.
Maybe talk some “sense” into those who refused to even sit at the negotiating table. And when there were ongoing negotiations after the invasion, those who refused them from the start put an end to them.
Two opportunities; December, 2021, April, 2022. Both stiffed by the U.S. of A.
A lot of Americans, maybe virtually all, know nothing about the phone calls in December 2021 and January 2022.
i didn’t know anything about them
von Der Leyen has to be one of the most clueless people ever to ascend through the ranks. At each level, she has proved her inability to learn her job and kicked upstairs. Now she wants to head NATO – perfect match!
BTW:
Disqus has the dumbest login click in the boxes system. A system that rewards our monkey nature, probably written by monkeys.
“…bring Russia to its sense…” Is there a “facepalm” emoji ?
His visit to China was a disaster. He has no clue how to behave respectfully. He asked to be alliwed to soeak at a University. Thinking that Chinese students live in a bubble and do not know how the wonderful West lives, They littery laughed when he suggested they should adopt a more open mind and not be influenced by their rigid education system!
He also asked Xi to “bring Putin to senses” and start peace process. Macron sidekick Ursula was less affable and condemned human rights abuses in China. What a pair of arrogant supremacists!
Sure, the world will bend to their wishes. The only concern the world has today is how to limit the damage West is capable of causing. Having wreaked havoc accross the globe with WWI and WWII hopefully it has exausted its capabilities. And it is just time to challenge it at margins and endure its rethorical barrage.
The arrogance of Macron and von der Leyen is breathtaking. Telling your host in Beijing, the man who has brokered huge peace agreements in very recent times, how to act and who to ally with, is incredibly rude and stupid as well as “highly likely” to alienate President Xi and most of the Global South as well.
Turkey and israel already brought russia and ukraine to the negotiating table. It was the west that prevented it from coming to fruition.
Macron says Xi “Can bring Russia to its senses.” Sounds to me it’s Macron & NATO who needs to return to their senses!!!! And who better to sober up Macron than XI… “It’s the U.S. and NATO who need to get real. It’s not Russia that needs a change, it’s the U.S. and NATO…. to avoid war with US. We will be with Russia which will overwhelm you. We will stand and fight with Russia to end the provocations to our sovereignty & your attempts to divide & defeat us.”
Dave, you are completely missing the point. But French media aren’t. They have harshly criticized Macron for his behavior.
He was NOT supposed to talk about Ukraine with China’s leaders on this trip. The Chinese did not want to be lectured about Ukraine. They told him, clearly but in their always polite way, to mind his own business. And he kept pushing them to change their position, basically to betray their close ties to Russia and submit to Biden’s wishes, with no concessions to Russia. Russia wouldn’t get Donbass or Crimea, and that’s called “negotiating”.
Xi Jinping was annoyed when Macron held a long speech, during which Jinping even visibly yawned. As Alexander Mercouris says on YouTube, the current leaders in the West have forgotten what diplomacy is. You are supposed to take no for an answer. You’re not supposed to keep pushing for a nation’s government to change its mind.
Macron did the same thing to Putin a year ago. Macron has this idea of himself as a great mediator, but it has instead been Turkey that has mediated, e.g. regarding the Black Sea. Macron talked to Putin for hours, about the need for a new security order in Europe. The Russians tried to pin him down, and he refused to give them anything concrete.
It went on long into the night, Macron talking and keeping Putin awake, when there was a conference the next day. Putin was very annoyed by this. Now Macron has done almost the same with Xi Jinping. He has a way too high opinion about his own intelligence.
Macron & Xi should bring Biden & Zelensky to their senses & away from their nonsenses. Biden wants the war to go on so he can be re-elected & this is his only way of looking tough.