Macron: now is not the time for negotiations

French President Emmanuel Macron has admitted that in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, "the time is now military" and the time for negotiations has not come.

He said this in an interview with Les Échos during his visit to China.

"I think China is making the same observation as we are, namely that today is a time of war. Ukrainians are resisting, and we are helping them. Now is not the time for negotiations, even if we are preparing them and if we have to set milestones," Macron said.

According to him, the purpose of his dialog with China is to consolidate approaches to the war.

"First: support for the principles of the UN Charter. Second: a clear reminder about nuclear energy, and it is China that must draw conclusions about the consequences of the fact that President Putin deployed nuclear weapons in Belarus a few days after he had committed himself not to do so. Third, a very clear reminder of humanitarian law and child protection. And fourth: a commitment to a negotiated and lasting peace," the French president explained.

He noted that Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke of a European security architecture.

"But there can be no European security architecture as long as there are countries in Europe that have been invaded or frozen conflicts. So you see that a common matrix emerges from all this. Is Ukraine a priority for Chinese diplomacy? Perhaps not. But this dialogue provides an opportunity to mitigate the comments that we have heard about a certain complacency on the part of China towards Russia," Macron said.

Author - Olena Madiak, 10/04/2023