France seeks China's help in pressuring Russia to end aggression against Ukraine
Photo: French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese leader Xi Jinping (Getty Images)
France supports dialogue with China to urge it to influence Russia and achieve an end to the war against Ukraine, says French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux, according to Ukrinform.
“What we observe are extremely biased, unbalanced relations between Russia and China, all the more so after Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which cut Russia off from many of its partners, particularly in the energy and economic sectors,” Confavreux said, commenting on Putin’s visit to China.
France maintains constant dialogue with China to send signals regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“This channel allows us to ask China to use its privileged relationship with Moscow to call for an end to this aggression,” the spokesperson noted.
He linked Paris’ response to the strengthening of Chinese-Russian cooperation with the priorities of the French presidency of the G7, which is focused on overcoming global economic imbalances.
“This is a priority that is becoming even more urgent as global security tensions rise,” Confavreux stressed.
Putin’s visit to China
On May 20, a meeting took place in Beijing between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin. They discussed, among other things, partnership and the war in Iran.
The Kremlin chief arrived in Beijing with a specific task — to secure Xi Jinping’s approval for the construction of a new gas pipeline. But the talks ended without an agreement — and without any concrete timelines.
After the visit concluded, analyst Andrii Kovalenko explained China’s logic: Beijing is deliberately keeping Moscow in a weak position to gain access to cheap Russian resources and avoid unnecessary risks.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted that Putin’s failure to secure Beijing's agreement to construct a new gas pipeline demonstrates the current limitations of Russian-Chinese cooperation.
