China’s EU envoy, Fu Cong, says Beijing respects the territorial integrity of all countries and stands for peace.

By Priyanka Shankar

Published On 27 Jun 202327 Jun 2023 AL JAREEZA

Brussels, Belgium – China’s envoy to the European Union has suggested that Beijing could back Ukraine’s aims of reclaiming its 1991 territorial integrity, which includes Crimea – the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera and two other media outlets, when Fu Cong was asked about supporting Kyiv’s goals, which includes reclaiming other Ukrainian regions now occupied by Russia, the senior Chinese diplomat said: “I don’t see why not.

Emmanuel Macron’s summit meeting has given new momentum to investment in sustainable development and climate financing

MICHAEL JACOBS PARIS 24 JUNE 2023 2517 WORDS Inside Stories

North and South: French president Emmanuel Macron greets Barbadian prime minister Mia Mottley, whose Bridgetown Initiative inspired this week’s New Global Financing Pact Summit in Paris. Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

SHARE

When world leaders meet for their much-vaunted “summits,” what do they actually do? The question was posed by last week’s meeting in Beijing between US secretary of state Anthony Blinken and Chinese president Xi Jinping. The meeting lasted a whole thirty-five minutes. It was barely long enough to exchange diplomatic pleasantries, let alone to make progress on the various areas of US–China rivalry, in the South China Sea, on trade, technology and Ukraine. The actual negotiations had clearly happened elsewhere. The summit was mainly an exercise in symbolism: a handshake for the cameras and a carefully worded communique for the record.