Still bruised from a gruelling battle over pension reform, France’s president Emmanuel Macron has arrived in China to assume the role of international statesman, something probably far more to his liking than the one of unpopular leader of a country on edge.
The top aim for Macron and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, during their three-day visit is to get president Xi Jinping to pressure Vladimir Putin to end or scale back ambitions for his 13-month invasion of Ukraine. The pair may end up playing the roles of “good cop” and “bad cop” with Von der Leyen very much the latter.
