This Monday, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, expressed to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, his “deep concern” about the “military cooperation that has been announced” between Russia and North Korea, reported the Elysée after a call between the two leaders.
“We hope that China realizes to what extent this is a problematic development for France and the entire European Union, it would naturally lead to fueling the scope of this Russian aggression” against Ukraine, added the presidency French with some journalists.
“The concern is mainly North Korean at this stage”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to the Russian Far East in September, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This meeting was followed by several arms deliveries, according to Seoul, which estimates that North Korea provided a million shells to Russia for its war in Ukraine, in exchange for know-how in space technologies.
“The concern is mainly North Korean at this stage, since it was they who announced during Kim Jong Un’s visit to Russia that there was a kind of real desire to move forward on cooperation military,” explained Emmanuel Macron’s entourage.
At the end of a state visit by the French president to China in April, Paris affirmed that Xi Jinping, close ally of Vladimir Putin, had said he was ready to work with France “to create the conditions for negotiations » between Moscow and Kiev.
Shortly after, the Chinese leader spoke on the telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which was seen on the French side as a positive result of Emmanuel Macron’s visit. Seven months later, however, the situation has not really changed. “The goal obviously remains to have a Chinese position which leads us to have an outcome both within the framework of the objectives set by the Ukrainians and within the framework of international law,” added a French advisor.