The writer is editorial director and a columnist at Le MondeThe mystery remains. None of the five European leaders who have visited Beijing since China ended its zero-Covid policy has managed to lift the cloud of ambiguity on Xi Jinping’s real intentions over Russia and Ukraine. Not even Emmanuel Macron, president of France, who spent six hours with the Chinese leader this week during a three-day state visit and was joined for part of the talks by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, was the first to rush to Beijing last November. All he got, apart from resuming high-level economic and trade contacts, was a reminder in a vaguely-worded statement that China opposed the use of nuclear weapons. Charles Michel, president of the European Council, followed a few weeks later, as Chinese and Russian air forces were conducting joint exercises. He got words of support for the EU’s “mediation efforts” — which did not exist.
Then, last month, came the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sanchez. According to the newspaper El Mundo, the Chinese leader went as far as to acknowledge in their conversation that Ukraine was a sovereign state and had a right to exist. But within which borders? And the concept of sovereignty may be subject to interpretation. After all, in a joint statement after the Putin-Xi summit on February 4, 2022, Russia and China claimed to be the true guardians of democracy.