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April 5 (UPI) -- French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday during their current trip to China. The two leaders arrived in Beijing Wednesday, while the official visit wraps up Saturday.
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Macron is expected to attempt to get China to change its current stance on Russia's war in Ukraine. This marks Macron's first in-person talks with Xi since the Chinese president visited the Élysée Palace in 2019.
"China is the only country in the world capable of having an immediate and radical impact on the conflict, in one direction or the other," an official from the French president's office on the current trip told The Guardian.
Shortly after arriving in China, Macron himself said it was his desire to combat the narrative that there is an "inescapable spiral of mounting tensions" between the West and China.
Macron previously attempted to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022, shortly before the country's military invaded.
Days later on a trip to Ukraine, Macron said he'd received assurances from Putin that Russia would not escalate tensions, which ultimately proved false.
It was around that time Macron publicly stated a desire for an in-person meeting with Xi to directly address the Ukraine situation and China's influence with Russia.
Macron reportedly has found common ground with Chinese proposals that would end the current conflict. A French spokesperson referred to the common interest as "points of convergence with Chinese proposals."
The French president has said he also hopes to boost trade ties between his country and China.
Macron's well-intentioned approach is seen as a near opposite to that of von der Leyen. The Belgian-born, German politician recently gave a speech to a European think tank during which she took direct aim at China and its leaders.
"Our relationship with China is far too important to be put at risk by failing to clearly set the terms of a healthy engagement. It is clear that our relations have become more distant and more difficult in the last few years," von der Leyen said at the end of March during a speech to the Mercator Institute for China Studies and the European Policy Centre.
"We have seen a very deliberate hardening of China's overall strategic posture for some time. And it has now been matched by a ratcheting up of increasingly assertive actions."
The 64-year-old leader, who is in China at Macron's invitation, also directly criticized the relationship between Xi and Putin.
"There was a stark reminder of that last week in Moscow during President Xi's state visit. Far from being put off by the atrocious and illegal invasion of Ukraine, President Xi is maintaining his 'no-limits friendship' with Putin," she said during that March speech.
She surmised the shifting relationship between the two countries is likely a result of China trying to gain added leverage over Russia as it persists with its war in Ukraine.
