PARIS, France — French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Joe Biden “agreed on the importance of continuing to engage” China in helping to end the war in Ukraine, the French presidency said Thursday after talks by phone between the leaders.
In a statement, Macron’s office said Macron had briefed Biden about “the results obtained” during his visit in the first week of April to Beijing where the French leader spent several hours in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The French statement added: “China had a role to play in contributing, in the medium term, in ending the conflict in accordance with the principles and aims of the United Nations charter.
“The two heads of state agreed on the importance of continuing to engage Chinese authorities on this basis.”
Macron also stressed “the importance of European countries continuing to re-arm themselves in order to take on their responsibilities in sharing the burden of transatlantic security,” the statement said.
“The two presidents share the same desire to reinforce cooperation underway and to support international law, including the freedom of navigation, in the whole of the Indo-Pacific region,” the statement added, in a reference to Taiwan.
Returning from his trip to China, Macron had raised hackles among allies by saying that Europe shouldn’t be a “follower” of the United States in the event of conflict between the US and China over Taiwan.
Speaking to the US-based Politico news site and French newspaper Les Echos, he added that Europe “should not be caught up in a disordering of the world and crises that aren’t ours”.
Macron headed to Beijing keen to engage Xi, an ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in finding an end to the Ukraine war.
An aide to the French president said afterwards that Xi had expressed interest in working with Paris on “creating the conditions for negotiations” between Moscow and Kyiv.
The idea of a joint initiative would be discussed between Macron’s chief diplomatic advisor, Emmanuel Bonne, and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in talks which are scheduled to take place before the summer, the aide said.
“The president said that any such negotiation had to take place with full respect of international law and Ukrainian sovereignty,” she continued.
“He (Macron) encouraged China to play a constructive role notably given its status as a permanent member of the (UN) Security Council,” the aide added.
READ: Macron says counting on Xi to ‘bring Russia to its senses’