Macron’s cognac — the only thing that went down smoothly with Xi

“We oppose using the Ukraine crisis to cast blame, smear a third country and incite a new Cold War,” Xi said on Monday.

The reference to a “new Cold War,” Chinese Communist Party jargon typically used to castigate any geopolitical maneuvering by Washington disliked by Beijing, may touch a chord with Macron, who has sought to develop Europe as a strategically autonomous military and economic power independent of China or the United States.

At the end of Xi’s first day in Paris, the mood at the Elysée was cautiously upbeat, as several advisers saw glimmers of hope in talks particularly on Ukraine.

During joint statements to the press, Xi announced he backed the French president’s call for an “Olympics truce,” which Macron saw as an opportunity to “work toward a sustainable resolution [of conflicts] in the full respect of international law.”

But with Russia gaining advantage on the battlefield in Ukraine and reportedly gearing up for an offensive over the summer, talk of a truce during the Olympic Games sounds like wishful thinking given the reality on the ground.

According to Marc Julienne, a China specialist at the Paris-based think-tank IFRI, China’s goodwill on this issue is “no real gain” for France, as it’s something Beijing wants anyway.