Chinese President Xi Jinping has made his second trip to Europe in five years, reiterating his country’s independence in the Ukraine War after Washington accused Beijing of aiding Moscow in rebuilding its defense-industrial center.  ,
Xi claims that China did not initiate the Ukraine crisis, was a party to it, or was a participant in it in an article published by the European regular Le Figaro under his own name.  ,
According to Xi,” China has been actively working to achieve a quiet resolution to the crisis.” China has frequently sent its particular agent to mediate between the countries concerned and has sent numerous humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
He claims that the longer the Ukraine crisis drags on, the worsens the consequences for both Europe and the universe. China” seeks a quick resumption of its efforts for peace and stability in Europe.” We are prepared to work with France and the entire global community to find a workable solution.
On Sunday, the Taiwanese president made his six-day attend to Hungary, France, and Serbia.
A intergovernmental meeting between Xi, French President Emmanuel Macron, and EU Commission Chair Ursula von der Leyen took place on Monday in Paris.  ,
Macron called cooperation with Beijing on “major problems” including Ukraine “absolutely decisive”.
Macron and von der Leyen even urged” reasonable rules for all” in Europe- China business, referring to China’s business overcapacity problem.
The US Treasury Department and the US Department of State jointly sanctioned about 300 businesses, including 20 ones with bases in China and Hong Kong, on May 1 after they were accused of sending electrical components and dual-use items to Russia to support Moscow’s Ukrainian war system.  ,
A Chinese company with Chinese sanctions includes a Chinese company that manufactures drone parts and a Chinese company that manufactures parts for unmanned aerial vehicles ( UAVs ) in Russia.
Beijing criticized the US for stifling Foreign businesses ‘ right and demanded that Russian-Chinese deal continue.
Macron told The Scholar on May 2 that he would not act out sending troops to Ukraine if Russia attacked the Russian front lines, as Kyiv had requested. In February, he had made his earliest mention of this strategy.  ,
Former US assistant secretary of defense Stephen Bryen claims that France has already deployed soldiers to Slavyansk in support of the 54th Independent Mechanized Brigade of Ukraine in an article published on his Substack weblog Weapons and Strategy on May 3.  ,
He claims that the first group of French soldiers will number about 100, while the first group of French Foreign Legion soldiers who will emerge in Ukraine will be about 1,500, according to that content ( which Asia Times republished on May 4).
Bryen defends his research in a different article that was published on his Substack on Monday in response to concerns about the authenticity of that report, noting that finding the details in such issues is challenging and involves a fair amount of social media use. ” I may be wrong”, he says. ” Honestly, I hope I am”.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokeswoman for the Kremlin, claimed on Monday that the Russian Defense Ministry was checking Bryen’s info for accuracy.
Nevertheless, on May 2, Avril Haines, director of national intelligence in the US, reported to the Senate Armed Services Committee that China and Russia have begun tussling over potential threats to Taiwan.
According to Haines’s evidence, cooperation between China and Russia across every sector of society, including politicians, economy, defense and technologies is increasing. She claimed that the likelihood of the two countries starting a” two-front war” against the West depended on the circumstances.  ,
Who’s persuading whom?
Xi urged China to “find a fair way” to end the conflict in Ukraine and maintain its independence while Macron and von der Leyen urged them to stop providing dual-use goods to Russia.  ,
According to some observers, Xi is persuading France to back China’s plan to stifle fresh power tools providers.  , They said China wants France, a heavy in Europe, to visit on Ukraine to bargain on a peace deal with Russia.
In his post for Le Figaro, Xi cites a Taoist proverb:” A man of real social integrity is one who is both welcoming but impartial, and who does not compromise his principles, and who is separate without any bias or taking sides. How stoically firm he is in his durability”!
Romain Rolland, a European author, once said that “it is so much easier to let oneself to be guided than it is to think for oneself. This capitulation is the core of the mischief”.
The EU launched a 13-month investigation last September into whether state subsidies have helped Foreign electric car manufacturers gain market share in recent years. In recent months, it launched more anti- payment satellites against China’s thermal panels, wind turbine and electric trains.
Some experts said it’s unlikely that Beijing’s close ties with Moscow will be stifled by the EU’s force on China’s EV field.
” China’s financial interests in Europe are not in France but in Hungary, which has so far accommodated 400 Taiwanese firms that are hiring tens of thousands of native workers”, Tang Hsiang- Lung, a Taiwanese social critic, says in his latest programme on YouTube on Monday.
Tang points out that a lithium mine was discovered in Hungary last November, and that Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd ( CATL ) has already established a sizable factory there. Lithium is a major raw material of EV batteries.  ,
According to him,” It’s likely that China will ask its EV manufacturers to concentrate more on the businesses that manufacture original equipment ( OEM) and collaborate with European brands to avoid additional tariffs.”  ,” It’s difficult for the EU to break up the China- Russia ties”.
He claims that China planned to create a talent pool there with the opening of Fudan University’s first campus in Europe, in addition to making a sizable investment in Hungary’s industrial and high-tech sectors.
He claims that China’s investment in Hungary can at least prevent the EU’s crucial political decisions from getting worse, but that it may not be enough to change it.  ,
On Tuesday, Xi will travel to Serbia to see the former Chinese embassies, which the US bombed in 1999. After being rebuilt, the remains were transformed into a Chinese cultural center. Between Wednesday and Friday, he will travel to Hungary.
Read: Shein, Temu bans next front in US decoupling drive
Follow Jeff Pao on X at , @jeffpao3