France wants to have an impact on China's position over Russia and the war in Ukraine

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00:00at the Élysée. James, talk us through the personal relationship, the importance of

00:05that and the two men off to the the Pyrenees tomorrow and perhaps maybe

00:09personal politics could make a difference. Yes, well this is what's

00:16being hoped for here at the Élysée Palace and that's what we were told

00:19before this meeting is that this sequence in the Pyrenees is very much

00:22for both men to have time together without all the protocol around them,

00:27without all their entourage where they can really just talk as men one to

00:32another and what's at stake here and what's you know the message that Emmanuel

00:37Macron is expected to convey is the fact that yes Ukraine is a key issue for the

00:41Europeans and for the French that it is of national security importance that it

00:46is something that the French and Europeans will not be giving up on and

00:50what he's trying to achieve indeed is for Xi Jinping to take a very firm

00:54engagement as to not sending weapons to Russia but also not letting its

01:00companies, China, export goods that can be used on the battlefield. So we're

01:05talking what? We're talking drones, we're talking detection systems, we're also

01:08talking about some heavy production tools such as machine tools to produce

01:13armament that right now are being indeed according to the Élysée and to the

01:19European Union shipped to Russia. Trade between Russia and China has leaped

01:2525% last year so that goes to show how much exchanges there are between both

01:31countries and yes indeed Xi Jinping can speak and have some influence on the

01:37Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, the question is will he want to speak to him

01:42that obviously is not very obvious. Now we have spoken to people here at the

01:46Élysée Palace who tell us look the idea is to put the idea in his head to show

01:50that the European Union and France are determined when it comes to Ukraine and

01:54they hope that that will have some impact at an important stage maybe later

01:58down the line but in 2000 I mean last time both men met

02:03Xi Jinping and Emmanuel Macron well Xi Jinping did speak on the phone to

02:08Volodymyr Zelensky the Ukrainian president who got a chance to air his

02:13concerns as to the situation and asked for Chinese help we'll see if there is

02:16for example a new contact between those two leaders in days to come.

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