France's foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot urged Beijing on Thursday to help bring Russia to talks over ending its war in Ukraine as he met Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
The headline is a bit misleading as it remains unclear what ‘closer ties with China’ really mean here, and the article clearly also says that there are major differences between France and China given Beijing’s support of Russia in its war against Ukraine, for example. It is always good if political leaders talk to each other, but so far no decisions have been made and France appears to be understandably careful.
The French FM Barrot is on a trip in Asia and meets his counterparts from countries in the area. He made some statements about ‘China ties’ but there were no agreements made with Beijing, but he did make agreements in Jakarta as France and Indonesia agree to boost Pacific security as tensions with China persist.
The headline is a bit misleading as it remains unclear what ‘closer ties with China’ really mean here, and the article clearly also says that there are major differences between France and China given Beijing’s support of Russia in its war against Ukraine, for example. It is always good if political leaders talk to each other, but so far no decisions have been made and France appears to be understandably careful.