| 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. |
