Macron ‘working on secret plan’ with China to end Ukraine war

Emmanuel Macron is said to be drawing up secret plans with China to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table “by this summer”.

The plans were branded “dangerous” by Tobias Ellwood, chair of the defence select committee while Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former Tory party leader, described the French president as a “snake in the grass”.

Mr Macron has tasked Emmanuel Bonne, his foreign policy adviser, to work with Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, in establishing a framework that could be used as the basis for future negotiations, reports suggested on Tuesday.

The French believe talks between Russia and Ukraine could happen as soon as this summer, anonymous sources told Bloomberg.

Any future negotiations would be dependent on several conditions, including a Ukraine’s spring offensive succeeding, putting Kyiv in a position of strength during talks, sources said.

Bloomberg said an official from Mr Macron’s office had confirmed the plan for Mr Bonne to speak to Mr Wang. He declined to comment on the details, adding that France’s allies have been informed of any French initiative.

It remains unclear whether Mr Macron has support for his plan from Kyiv.

However, on Saturday, the Elysée said he had “discussed the next steps in the organisation of a peace summit” with Volodymyr Zelensky.  The Ukrainian president confirmed the pair discussed “the results of the president’s recent visit to China” in a phone call.

Without confirming the specifics of the report, French sources told the Telegraph: “Mr Macron said publicly during his trip that he wanted to get China to commit to playing a constructive role. Naturally, diplomatic discussions took place and there is a follow-up.”

The Kremlin said on Tuesday it had not seen any plans for a peace deal presented by France.

Beijing has thus far shown no sign of pressuring Moscow to end its invasion. In China, Mr Macron failed to convince Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, to talk to Mr Zelensky and put allies’ noses out of joint by saying that Europe must not be a “follower” of the US agenda over Taiwan.

In an apparent rebuke, James Cleverly said on Tuesday: “It’s in everybody’s interest across the whole world for there not to be conflict across the Taiwan strait … It is in the interests of everybody that this is resolved peacefully through mutual consent, and not by force.”

Mr Cleverly denied the UK was a “vassal state” to the US, after Mr Macron implied being allied to the US meant being a vassal.

“We are able to have close coordination, but also disagreements with some of our closest friends in the world,” Cleverly said.

However, Mr Cleverly told the Guardian that the UK should not “pull the shutters down” on China.

During a visit to Japan for the G7 summit, the foreign secretary said that while he understands the hawkish stance of some of his colleagues, “China will carry on carrying on whether we engage with them or not”.

He conceded that China will never “redefine” itself, but added: “If we don’t engage, we lose that influence. I have no intention of throwing away what influence I do have, even with China.”

Responding to Mr Macron’s reported plans, Mr Ellwood told The Telegraph: “He may think he’s pursuing a noble cause but he is in fact falling into China’s playbook, bypassing common international practices and the recognised machinery to resolve international disputes.

While Sir Iain said Ukrainians have little faith in the French president.

"When I was in Ukraine I found they do not trust the Chinese and they don't trust Macron, as he put them in this predicament in the first place when he came up with the disastrous agreement with Merkel in 2014," he said.

"They certainly don't trust him since he went to China. They are saying: Macron has only one objective, and that is boosting Macron's image, and he doesn't care who he sells down the river to achieve that, when he he facing such a domestic mess.

"His behaviour is really bizarre and redolent of a snake in the grass.”

There was similar disapproval in Brussels over Mr Macron’s stance.

Rym Momtaz, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said: “Macron suffers from a trust deficit with his European partners and allies due to his previous statements saying Nato suffers from ‘brain death’, blindsiding them with his dialogue with Russia in 2019 and calling not to ‘humiliate Russia’ and for building 'an architecture of security with Russia' even after it had invaded Ukraine.

“Any attempt to work with China on Ukraine, without full coordination with his European partners and the US will further isolate France.”

Justin Crump, of Sibylline, an intelligence and geopolitical risk firm, said: “The biggest problem is that many in Europe and indeed the West just don’t see or believe China can ever be an honest broker for peace, given Beijing’s questionable position in the conflict and close ties with Moscow.

“In this regard Macron is arguably a classical useful idiot, with actions definitely undermining at least the perception - if not the reality - of unity.

“This is likely a thin end of a wedge that will open wider debate, and offer opportunity for adversaries to exploit and further divisions.”

According to Le Monde, French diplomats are “tired of picking up the pieces” of Mr Macron’s foreign flights of fancy. “Diplomats then have to slave away to salvage the matter, ” it cited an anonymous source as saying.

Le Monde reported that fatigue over Mr Macron’s go-it-alone habits could explain why Philippe Errera, the foreign ministry’s heavyweight director of political and security affairs, intends to step down this summer after four years.

Many Ukraine allies have dismissed ceasefire proposals that would allow Russia to keep territorial gains, and have warned that Putin would only exploit peace talks to prepare a fresh offensive.

Top diplomats from the G7 nations, including France, this week backed Mr Zelensky’s “peace formula”, which includes the complete withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.

Mr Macron is keen to discuss future security guarantees for Ukraine with various international partners including China, according to reports. Nato leaders will launch similar talks when they meet for the military alliance’s annual summit in Vilnius, Lithuania in July.

The Telegraph understands internal talks are currently focusing on bringing Kyiv’s armed forces up to a Nato standard in both the short and long term. This is one method Western officials believe is crucial for warding off future Russian aggression once the current war has drawn to a close.