According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both leaders will be here from April 5 to April

7 and the Frenchman will, in his state visit will meet with his host, President Xi Jinping.

Although the Foreign Ministry did not provide further details of their agendas, in general, the guests, during their stay in China, will also hold talks with Prime Minister Li Qiang and the chairman of the National People’s Congress, Zhao Leji.

Macron and von der Leyen will arrive in China following their recent contacts with senior Chinese leaders, including, Wang Yi, the director of Foreign Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is expected to be one of the topics the two leaders will discuss with their local interlocutors.

When late last month Wang Yi had a telephone conversation with Emmanuel Bonne, advisor to the French president, he took the opportunity to call on the European Union (EU) to play a constructive role and make contributions to bring Moscow and Kiev to the negotiating table in search of a solution to the crisis.

The Chinese leader insisted that declaring a ceasefire, resuming peace talks, and finding a political way out of the situation should even be a strategic consensus between the Asian giant and the EU.

Wang reiterated Beijing’s position in favor of the talks and highlighted the willingness expressed in this regard by Russian President Vladimir Putin when he received President Xi Jinping in Moscow.

He reminded that the joint statement of the two presidents ‘sent a voice of peace to the international community and demonstrated the desire for a dialogue’.

In his opinion, the text serves the common desire of the majority of countries and clearly marks the right direction towards a political solution to the crisis. jrr/jav/mem/ymr.