Emmanuel Macron¡¯s tendentious trip to China was light on deliverables and heavy on stumbles, casting shadows anew on the French president¡¯s diplomatic mojo.
Macron failed to achieve the trip¡¯s paramount objective: Make headway ending the Russia-Ukraine war on terms Kyiv and the trans-Atlantic alliance can accept. Chinese leader Xi Jinping made no pledge to lean on his ¡°best friend,¡± Russian President Vladimir Putin, the instigator of a conflict that has caused 354,000 combat casualties, devastated Ukrainian infrastructure and cost the global economy more than $1.6 trillion last year, per the German Institute of Economics¡¯ calculations.
Instead, Xi called for an expeditious resumption of peace talks, reiterating the Chinese view that ¡°all sides¡± have ¡°reasonable security concerns.¡±
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