French President Emmanuel Macron concluded a visit to China on Friday — one in which he reportedly “urged” genocidal dictator Xi Jinping, a close ally of Vladimir Putin’s, to help stop the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
While Western outlets claimed Macron attempted to convince Xi to play a larger role in stopping the bloodshed, Chinese state media emphasized Macron’s enthusiastic support for growing trade between Beijing and Paris, including sharing nuclear energy technology with the rogue communist nation. Chinese outlets noted that, in passing, Xi promised to play a “productive” role on Ukraine, but featured the issue far less prominently than cultural exchanges and bilateral trade.
The absence of Ukraine as a primary topic of conversation during Macron’s visit is notable given the long-term, malignant role that China has played in enriching Russia and allowing for the continued hostilities against Ukraine. Studies have indicated that China is a major contributor to sanctions violations helping Russia fund the invasion and has offered Russia satellite intelligence to identify and destroy targets in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky published video he alleged showed Chinese nationals captured fighting for Russia in Ukraine.
Macron’s meek disposition towards the topic is also distinctive due to his role as one of the loudest voices calling for increased Western support for the Ukrainian war effort. Macron met with Zelensky shortly before his departure to Beijing and has claimed to rally dozens of countries to help defend Ukraine with troops.
The Chinese state news network CCTV described the top issues discussed between Macron and Xi in Beijing as “nuclear energy, agriculture, food, education, and ecological environment” on Thursday, resulting in the signing of several joint agreements. The Chinese government propaganda newspaper Global Times quoted Macron as supportive of Xi’s calls for “global governance” and “multilateralism,” a term typically used to mean the erasure of American influence around the world.
“France fully agrees with President Xi Jinping’s views on reforming and improving global governance and promoting a more balanced global economy,” Macron allegedly said.
In a more detailed summary of Xi’s comments during his meeting with Macron, CCTV cited Xi as extensively praising the bilateral relationship and emphasizing his wish to import more French goods.
“China is willing to import more high-quality French products, welcomes more French enterprises to develop in China, and also hopes that France will provide a fair environment and stable conditions for Chinese enterprises,” Xi reportedly declared.
Ukraine appears in the report as a discussion item, but Xi’s remarks do not offer any specifics on Macron’s commentary, nor did Xi appear to promise to take any concrete measures to convince its close ally Russia to stop invading Ukraine’s territory. China’s position as Russia’s closest ally did not appear in the coverage at all.
“Xi stated that China supports all efforts that are conducive to peace and will continue to play a constructive role in the political settlement of the crisis in its own way,” according to CCTV. “He said China supports European countries in playing their due role toward the establishment of a balanced, effective, and sustainable European security architecture.”
Similarly, the Global Times claimed that Xi “hopes that all parties can reach a fair, lasting, and binding peace deal that is accepted by all parties involved through dialogue and negotiation.” Xi also allegedly said China would “continue to play a constructive role in the political settlement of the crisis,” without reporting that the primary role that China is currently playing is as Russia’s financial backer.
Non-Chinese outlets placed the Ukraine invasion higher on the priority list than Beijing’s coverage, but also reported little details on that conversation. CNBC, for example, claimed that Macron was “urging Beijing to help end the Russia-Ukraine war.” The outlet quoted Macron stating that he “hope[s] China will join our call” to achieve “at the very least a ceasefire.”
“What we want… is that China can convince and influence Russia to move toward a ceasefire as quickly as possible,” an anonymous alleged French “diplomatic official” told the Associated Press.
China’s prominent role as a Russian ally presents a significant obstacle to this goal, particularly regarding its financial contributions. In May, the Germany Foreign Ministry published a report finding that China was responsible for as much as 80 percent of the activity attempting to thwart Western sanctions on Russia intended to convince Russia to stop the invasion. Chinese companies are overwhelmingly the largest investors in eastern Russia, representing over 90 percent of investments, according to some estimates.
The Ukrainian government has accused China of also aiding the military effort. In October, Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service officer Oleh Alexandrov revealed that Kyiv had evidence China was sharing satellite intelligence with Russia used to bomb Ukraine.
“There is evidence of a high level of co-operation between Russia and China in conducting satellite reconnaissance of the territory of Ukraine in order to identify and further explore strategic objects for targeting,” he said at the time.