Efforts with France pledged on key issues

Wang Yi finds receptive ear in Paris for nations to work together on Ukraine

China and France have vowed to strengthen strategic coordination and make joint efforts to achieve a cease-fire in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and reduce the spillover effects of the crisis.

The consensus was reached when State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday had a phone call with the French president's diplomatic counselor, Emmanuel Bonne, the third interaction between the two senior diplomats this year.

Wang stressed that the Ukraine crisis has persisted over a long time with complex issues involved, a situation that the world does not want to see.

China has insisted on promoting peace talks from the very beginning, said Wang, while pledging that the country will continue to make every effort to play a constructive role toward the goal of a cease-fire.

The spillover effects of the Ukraine crisis are seen in food and energy shortages, posing challenges and risks to the global economic recovery, as well as to peace and stability, Wang said.

China stands ready to bolster communication with France on implementing China's Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, he added.

China also put forward a cooperation initiative on global food security at the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting earlier this month, which could sit well with France's Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission as part of efforts to forge more international consensuses, Wang said.

China supports and believes that France, as a major European country, will continue to play an important role in efforts to restore peace, he added.

Wang said China and France are two important stabilizing forces as the world moves toward multipolarization. As part of this process, China is willing to strengthen coordination with France and make due contributions to global peace, stability and development, he said.

Strategic coordination

Bonne said France appreciates China's active role in promoting food and energy security and attaches great importance to strategic coordination between the two countries.

France is willing to work for an early cease-fire to minimize the spillover effects of the Ukraine crisis on vulnerable and underdeveloped countries, Bonne said.

During the talks, Wang said he hoped that France, as a core power in the European Union, can play an active role in the sound and smooth development of China-EU relations, and create new opportunities for cooperation between the two sides on issues such as energy security, carbon markets and financing for green investments.

In response, Bonne expressed a willingness to actively promote EU-China cooperation, guided by the goal of mutual benefits. He stressed that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a Western military alliance, has no intention of expanding into the Asia-Pacific region.

Wang Yiwei, director of the Center for European Union Studies at Renmin University of China, said China's stance on the Ukraine issue has become more understood abroad, with the country's constructive role now more recognized.

Amid an unstable international situation, China has stayed committed to safeguarding the international system with the United Nations at its core, as well as the international order based on international law and the norms governing international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, the scholar said.

"The EU now views China's stance more objectively while hoping Beijing can leverage its influence and promote peace talks," he said.

The phone discussions between Wang and Bonne came ahead of high-level trade talks between China and the EU on Tuesday.

China was the third-largest market for EU goods exports and the biggest source of EU imports in 2021, according to Eurostat, the EU's statistics agency.