In China, Macron urges peace in Ukraine
President Emmanuel Macron of France, speaking in Beijing, said that China could play a “major role” in bringing peace to Ukraine and made it clear that he would urge Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, to assist in the effort. He hoped to “relaunch” a partnership with China, he said, and thus engage that country in a “shared responsibility for peace and international stability.”
Macron is clearly determined to carve out an independent position, one more conciliatory toward China than the American one, at a moment when relations between Beijing and Washington are at their lowest point in decades. Europe’s hard-hit economy needs the Chinese market, and European “strategic autonomy” is a long-sought goal for Macron.
Beijing has never condemned the Russian invasion or used the word “war” to describe it, and it has, under Xi, pursued an ever more aggressive anti-Western policy. Still, China’s 12-point plan to resolve the Ukraine conflict, presented in February, had some problematic elements but indicated Xi’s readiness to be involved in peace efforts, Macron suggested.
Taiwan: Kevin McCarthy, the U.S. House speaker, hosted a carefully choreographed series of meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, underscoring the juggling act facing the U.S. as it tries to confront an increasingly aggressive China without precipitating a military crisis around the island.
In other news from the war:
A Ukrainian commander said that fighting was still raging in the center of Bakhmut amid increasing signs that Russia was advancing in the ruined city.
Many of the 26,500 African students who were in Ukraine before the war started have been left to fend for themselves.
Maria Lvova-Belova addressing members of the U.N. Security Council via video.Michelle Nichols/Reuters
Russia’s orchestrations at the U.N. Security Council
Russia turned a U.N. Security Council meeting yesterday into what a coalition of more than 50 countries said was an upside-down show of misinformation. In a statement, Russia accused the West of abducting Ukrainian children — the very accusation the International Criminal Court has leveled at the Russian government.
Russia called for the meeting as it took over the rotating presidency of the Council for April, billing it as an informal forum on the fate of thousands of Ukrainian children. Ukraine and its allies say the children were deported to Russia by force and placed with Russian families for adoption, and the International Criminal Court of Justice has labeled the forced relocations a war crime.
The court issued arrest warrants last month for President Vladimir Putin and the head of Russia’s child protection agency, Maria Lvova-Belova, for their roles in relocating the children to Russia. But Russia’s ambassador to the U.N., Vasily Nebenzya, claimed yesterday that they were being forcibly separated from their parents and sent to European countries such as Spain and Portugal and Germany for placement in shelters or with families.
Details: Russia’s program included testimony from several officials in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and videotaped messages from women claiming to be Ukrainian mothers saying they were very pleased to have had their children whisked away to Russia.
