French source says China ready to work on Ukraine peace, details scant

BEIJING (Reuters) – China is ready to work together with France on obtaining a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine, a French diplomatic source said on Thursday after President Emmanuel Macron held talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

“The President and Xi agreed to “work hard” in order to accelerate the end of the war and to obtain that a negotiation opens in the full respect of international law,” a French diplomatic source said after the two leaders held talks for 1.5 hours.

In comments after his meeting with Macron, Xi called for Ukraine and Russia to resume peace talks and find a political solution to the conflict, positions that reflected his long-standing stance on the war.

The French diplomatic source did not give specific details on whether China had indicated a change in position, but said the two sides had agreed to hold further talks.

Xi had also indicated he was ready to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in his own time, the source said.

Macron had also urged China not to deliver anything that Russia could use “in its war in Ukraine.”

The French presidency had earlier said the meeting was “frank and constructive.”

(Reporting by Michel Rose; writing by John Irish; Editing by Leigh Thomas and Raissa Kasolowsky)