Photo: Reuters.com Worldwide
It is not at all clear whether the Chinese comrades expect these presidents in principle.
The 12 Chinese points announced for the establishment of peace have become a stumbling block for Europe and a reason to announce a trip to China for Macron and Zelenskyy . The French edition of Le Monde summarizes that, a few hours after Beijing’s abstention at the United Nations General Assembly on a resolution calling on Russia to immediately withdraw its troops from Ukraine, on February 24 at 9 a.m., the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published on its website “China’s position on a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
Reaction around the world followed. According to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz: “From my point of view, there is no clear line according to which Russian troops should be withdrawn,” he said on Saturday during a visit to India, according to Le World, quoting Die Welt newspaper. US President Joe Biden told ABC News he saw nothing in China’s plan “that could benefit anyone other than Russia.”
Russia said it “shared Beijing’s concerns”. Kazakhstan, as stated in the statement of Kazakh diplomacy, “positively welcomes the position of the People’s Republic of China”.
But there were those who were personally ready to quickly overcome the “Great Silk Road”. The day after China published a document calling for peace talks, French President Macron announced on the sidelines of the Agricultural Show that he would visit China “in early April”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said he planned to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping “in the near future”.
Macron and Zelenskyy say they are close to visiting China, but on February 25, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: “At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Belarusian Alexander Lukashenko will pay a state visit to China”.
On February 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a meeting with Wang Yi, head of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, conveyed his best wishes to Chinese President Xi Jinping. The press secretary to the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, has promised to announce the dates of the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping as soon as relevant information emerges. The visit is tentatively scheduled for this spring.
How Macron and Zelenskyy will fit into Xi Jinping’s meeting plans, the Western press is silent, as well as who in that line might be first: Macron or Zelenskyy . It is not at all clear whether the Chinese comrades expect these presidents in principle. And which of them, not foreseen in advance, will be the first?
