Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday China stands ready to issue a joint call with France for political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, as he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Beijing.
During their meeting, Xi emphasized that China’s position on the Ukraine issue is consistent and clear.
“It is essentially about facilitating peace talks and political settlement. There is no panacea for defusing the crisis,” Xi said.
It requires all parties to do their share and create conditions for ceasefire and peace talks through a buildup of trust. China supports Europe in playing its role in the political settlement of the crisis, he noted.
“China stands ready to issue a joint call with France for the international community” to stay rational, exercise restraint, and avoid taking actions that might cause the crisis to further deteriorate or even spiral out of control; to strictly abide by international humanitarian law, avoid attacking civilians or civilian facilities, and protect women, children and other victims of the conflict; to earnestly honor the pledge that nuclear weapons must not be used and nuclear wars must not be fought, oppose the use of biological weapons under any circumstances, and oppose armed attacks against nuclear power plants or other civilian nuclear facilities; to resume peace talks as soon as possible, observe the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, accommodate the legitimate security concerns of all parties, seek political settlement, and foster a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture; and to jointly address the spillover effects of the Ukraine crisis in food, energy, finance, transportation and other fields, and reduce the negative impact of the Ukraine crisis on the world, especially on developing countries.” Macron shared France’s view on the issue, and commended China’s important role in the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, the report said.
“France calls for the resumption of political negotiations and a settlement of the crisis through diplomatic means to achieve lasting peace in Europe. France hopes to increase communication and make joint efforts with China toward peace,” Macron was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Xi spoke favorably of the momentum of positive and steady growth in the China-France relationship.
He stressed that the two sides need to make good use of their all-round, high-level communication channels, maintain close communication between the two presidents, and hold a new round of meetings this year for the three high-level dialogue mechanisms, namely the strategic dialogue, the economic and financial dialogue, and the dialogue on people-to-people exchanges.
Macron fully agreed with President Xi’s positive assessment of France-China relations and important suggestions on growing the bilateral ties, the report added.
Source: Kuwait News Agency