President Xi Jinping has indicated that he is ready to call the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, as reported by a French diplomatic source. The French President, Emmanuel Macron and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, have met today with the Chinese president in Beijing. The European official assured that Xi reiterated his willingness to speak with the Ukrainian president “when the conditions and the time is right“.

During the meeting, the French president urged his Chinese counterpart to take advantage of his influence over Russia and mediate between Moscow and kyiv so that the Russians “come to their senses” and thus be able to move towards a solution to a war that has been going on for more than thirteen months. “I know I can count on you so that Russia comes to its senses and everyone sits down at the negotiating table,” Macron said during a meeting with Xi in the Chinese capital, Beijing, according to the French newspaper ‘Le Parisien’.

For his part, Xi has remarked that China has already submitted a peace plan at the end of February – rejected by a large part of the international community as being closer to Russian positions – and has urged Russia and Ukraine to resume negotiationss. On this point, the Chinese president has stressed the need to respect the basic principles of the United Nations and has defended that Beijing’s position is that of act in moderation and avoid by all means a possible escalation or lack of control of hostilities.

According to the Chinese president, both parties to the conflict should also focus prevent attacks from being launched against people and civilian infrastructure, at the same time that a firm commitment is essential not to use nuclear weapons, according to the German agency DPA. He Chinese president traveled to Moscow at the end of March to meet with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in order to explain their proposals for peace while both staged the strength of their relationship.

During the meeting, Xi acknowledged that “the crisis is prolonged” and that it is “difficult to resolve”, and again called for “calm and rationality” in order to “hold peace talks”. Meanwhile, Von der Leyen stressed that China’s position on the war in Ukraine is “crucial” and that he expects the Asian country to promote peace “by supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

“It is the cornerstone. We welcome some of the points that China has advocated, such as opposing the use of nuclear weapons. We are counting on China not going to offer Russia any kind of military weapons, because that would be a clear violation of international law Von der Leyen said. Likewise, the European official assured that in the three-way conversation the issue of taiwanan island whose sovereignty China claims.

“Stability in Taiwan is of vital importance. Any unilateral and forcible change of the current status quo is unacceptable,” he said. Xi insisted that the Taiwan “issue” is the “core of China’s interests” and that “anyone who believes that China will compromise” on this issue “is shooting themselves in the foot.”