Macron and von der Leyen sat at a large round table – so the distance between them and Xi Jinping, who sat in the middle, turned out to be simply huge. Many commentators on the social network did not fail to notice this. They also recalled that during his recent visit to Moscow, Xi spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, being distant from the Russian leader.
“Double humiliation for Europeans. Now, if Putin came to Beijing, that’s another story,” wrote one of the commentators. “Well done, China! European politicians, with their exaggerated smugness, have shown themselves in action,” reads another comment. “Photo fact: Macron and von der Leyen try to yell at Xi Jinping to stop communicating with Putin,” noted a third reader. “We might as well have a videoconference. They just spent money on air travel to no avail,” another commenter said.
Politico writes that Macron failed to convince Xi to change his approach to the conflict in Ukraine. At the same time, the publication points out that Macron spoke at length at a press conference following the results of the negotiations – almost twice as much as the Chinese leader.
