German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet via video link on Monday. Photo: Xinhua
In a call that addressed some of the testier issues in EU-China relations, the pair agreed on the need to reach a speedy ceasefire in Ukraine, according to readouts from both governments.
A Chinese government account of the call said that Xi and Macron agreed that "all parties concerned should support Russia and Ukraine to restore peace through negotiations".
Comment: Both parties also know that the likelihood of that happening are slim to none, bearing in mind it was Ukraine that failed to adhere to the Minsk agreements and former ceasefires, and it was the head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) who was recently quoted as saying: "There will be no peace treaty with Russia. There will only be the capitulation of the Russian Federation,".
In addition, isn't it a bit hypocritical of Macron who, along with much of Europe and the US, are funneling billions in arms and funds to keep Ukraine afloat in order to keep the proxy-war war going?
The French readout, meanwhile, said they had both "reiterated their commitment to respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, and agreed on the urgency of reaching a ceasefire".
But there were no clues in either version as to how such a ceasefire would be achieved in reality, as the war grinds through its third month, as diplomatic efforts flounder, and as China refuses to condemn the Russian aggression.
Comment: China isn't alone, India hasn't condemned Russia either, despite the West trying its best to get them to do so; to which India responded: "Don't patronise us"
Following similar remarks made in a video call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday, Xi drilled down on his insistence that Europe take responsibility for their own security, in what will be seen as a thinly veiled swipe at the United States.
The Chinese readout said that "China has been promoting peace talks in its own way, and supports European countries in taking European security into their own hands".
"We must be particularly vigilant against the formation of group confrontation, which will pose a bigger and more lasting threat to global security and stability," it continued.
The idea that in Ukraine, Europe's loss is America's gain has been propagated by senior Chinese officials.
Comment: Those are the facts; in 'convinicing' Europe to go along with its proxy-war against Russia and to sanction themselves out of the energy market, the US benefits by selling them overpriced and unreliable US LNG.
Beijing's top official for Europe Wang Lutong tweeted last weekend: "With Ukraine conflict happening on European soil, Europe is hurt the first and the most. The US, however, is raking in billions with rocketing arms trade and oil and gas sales and seeing financial capital flooding back to America."
Senior European figures, however, have pushed back against this narrative.
"We condemn Russian aggression against Ukraine and support this country's sovereignty, democracy - not because we follow the US blindly, as sometimes China suggests, but because it is our position," the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell told the European Parliament last month.
Comment: If you have to say it...
Noah Barkin, an analyst of EU-China relations at research house Rhodium Group, said the messaging from Beijing was "completely at odds with the reality on the ground - Beijing has become a bigger fan of European strategic autonomy than the Europeans themselves".
"At a time when the EU and US are more aligned on security issues than they have been in many years due to Ukraine, China is sending the message to Europe that it should ditch the US and take care of its own security," Barkin said.
Comment: The EU doesn't want European countries making sovereign decisions, and neither does the US.
The call came amid a diplomatic flurry between Asian and European leaders.
The EU's top officials will be in Tokyo for a summit with Japan on Thursday, where China and its positioning on Russia will be on the agenda.
It also comes at a tough moment for EU-China relations. An online summit on April 1 was dismissed by Borrell as a "dialogue of the deaf".
European leaders have expressed frustration at Beijing's unwillingness to use its influence to positively affect Russia's war on Ukraine, as well as a laundry list of pre-existing gripes around trade and human rights.
Comment: Europe is used to being able to either coerce or to carpet bomb a country in order to get its own way, clearly it's unable to do that with China and Russia and one can imagine the pathological technocrats find it rather frustrating.
According to the readout from the Elysee, Macron raised some of these thorny issues with Xi, in contrast to Scholz, whose statement focused largely on areas of cooperation.
He congratulated China on ratifying two forced labour conventions at the International Labour Organization last month, which he said "should now be fully implemented throughout China, especially in Xinjiang".
Comment: A non-issue, since there are no significant labour issues in Xinjiang; lest we forget that China recently lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty whilst Europe is overseeing a collapse in living standards.
Macron "recalled France's expectations regarding the lifting of the sanctions imposed on Lithuania", while he also urged the Chinese government to stop separating French children from their parents due to coronavirus restrictions, and to permit French people affected by lockdowns to fly back home.
Comment: That kind of hypocrisy tells us everything we need to know about Macron.
It marked the second time the two leaders spoke since Macron saw off the challenge from right-wing opponent Marine Le Pen to win a second five-year term in the Elysee Palace in late April.
Comment: The vote was likely rigged, as was the previous that saw him rammed into power.
On both occasions, Xi has sought to play up the importance of European strategic autonomy, a favoured policy of Macron's, who has long championed the idea of a self-sufficient EU on everything from security and defence to supplies of critical technologies.
In China, it is often read as Europe striking out independently from the United States, and is frequently championed in official government statements.
"The Chinese side appreciates the French side's adherence to strategic independence, and hopes that the French side will promote the EU to adhere to a correct understanding of China, meet China halfway, properly manage and control differences," Xi told Macron, according to the Chinese account.
Both sides hoped to expand commercial ties, with China "welcoming financial and hi-tech enterprises" and hoping France would ensure "a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises to invest and cooperate in France" in return.
Comment: As we saw with Nord Stream II and Huawei's abandoned 5G rollout, US influence in Europe is so great that Europe appears to be willing to completely sabotage its own economies in order to appease the US as well as to enforce the establishment's 'Great Reset' agenda.
France hopes to "deepen the Franco-Chinese projects in the fields of aeronautics and civil nuclear power", Macron said.
It looks that way, however the US is a tool of the elite families of Europe. Who really don't give a shit about what our optics look like, theirs is the most important.