Originally published April 19, 2023 12:41 am PDT
French President Emmanuel Macron is reportedly working on a plan with China to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table for peace talks, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Macron hopes to establish a framework for future negotiations and has tasked his foreign policy adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, to work with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi.
The plan envisions talks between Russia and Ukraine happening as soon as this summer if all goes well.
Macron recently visited China but fell short of his goal to convince President Xi Jinping to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
However, a spokesperson from China’s Foreign Ministry stated that all parties would need to “accumulate mutual trust to create conditions for a truce and peace talks.”
“As President Xi Jinping stressed, there are no magic pills to solve the crisis,” the spokesman said.
“China supports Europe starting from its own fundamental and long-term interests to push for resuming peace talks as soon as possible and to create a balanced, effective and sustainable European security framework with consideration for the reasonable concerns of various parties,” the Chinese official went on to say.
Last year, Macron caused controversy by stating that allies shouldn’t “humiliate” Russia.
However, he now hopes to turn to China for help in bringing Russia and Ukraine together for negotiations.
A French official told The Telegraph that President Macron had “said publicly during his trip that he wanted to get China to commit to playing a constructive role. Naturally, diplomatic discussions took place and there is a follow-up.”
