Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen are meeting with Xi Jinping on Thursday to advocate for Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will try to make Europe's voice heard in the case of the war in Ukraine on Thursday, in a meeting with Xi Jinping, a close associate of Vladimir Putin, reports Hotnews.ro.
The two leaders will be received in the afternoon by the Chinese president at the People's Palace in Beijing.
In recent weeks, international pressure has mounted on China to encourage it to get involved in peace in Ukraine. Because, while Beijing officially declares itself neutral, Xi Jinping has never condemned the Russian invasion or even spoken on the phone with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. Instead, he recently went to Moscow to reaffirm his alliance with the Russian president, appearing as an anti-Western front.
In this context, Emmanuel Macron has the ambition to "be a voice that unites Europe", as he mentioned in a speech on Wednesday. "So coming to Beijing accompanied by the president of the European Commission", "is to underline the coherence of this approach".
President Macron, who will be received in the morning by Premier Li Qiang then National Assembly Chairman Zhao Leji, will have a meeting with Xi Jinping in the afternoon, before making statements to the media, a trilateral interview, which will also include von der Leyen and finally a state dinner.
