Exclusive | Emmanuel Macron plans China visit amid talk of Beijing helping end Ukraine war

Senior adviser to French leader said to have travelled to Beijing to lay groundwork for 2025 trip as Europeans push for China to sway Russia

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French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at a press conference in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday. Photo: Zuma Press Wire/dpa

Published: 3:30am, 13 Dec 2024Updated: 4:14am, 13 Dec 2024

French President Emmanuel Macron is planning to visit China in the new year, as speculation swirls about Beijing’s potential role in ending the Ukraine war.

According to several sources familiar with the matter, Macron’s trusted diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonne travelled this week to Beijing with a team of aides to lay the groundwork for a trip by the French leader.

Bonne’s visit was timed to coincide with Macron’s return this week from Poland. There, Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk discussed plans to put troops from European Union member states in Ukraine to monitor a future ceasefire, according to media reports.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that during talks in Paris earlier this month, Macron, US president-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed leveraging China’s influence over Russia as part of a ceasefire deal.

“Trump also pushed the Europeans to do more to get the Chinese to press the Kremlin to end the conflict, according to a person briefed on the meeting. They discussed using tariffs on China as a bargaining chip, if Beijing doesn’t agree to do so,” it also reported.

A woman visits the site of a missile strike on a medical centre in Zaporizhzhia, southeastern Ukraine, on Wednesday. At least eight people were killed and 22 others injured by the strike on December 10, 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE

European leaders have long sought China’s help to end the war, which began with a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, they have been largely disappointed by its response.