French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Beijing on Wednesday

Beijing: French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Beijing yesterday for a three-day state visit in a bid to dissuade China from supporting Russia in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Their visit is being billed as an attempt to engage with Chinese President Xi Jinping amid deteriorating EU-China relations due to widening rifts over the Ukraine war. 

Their joint trip is the latest in a noticeable push from European leaders to engage with China. The visit comes as



relations between the US and China are at a new low after President Joe Biden ordered a Chinese surveillance balloon that had flown over a wide section of the continental US shot down in February. Hours before his arrival in Beijing on Wednesday, 

Macron had a phone conversation with Biden during which they agreed to engage China to try to hasten the end of the war in Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez have also visited Beijing in recent months.