French President Emmanuel Macron is planning to visit China in the new year, as speculation swirls about Beijing's potential role in ending the Ukraine war.
Macron's trusted diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonne travelled this week to Beijing with a team of aides to lay the groundwork for a trip by the French leader.

Bonne's visit was timed to coincide with Macron's return this week from Poland. There, Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk discussed plans to put troops from European Union member states in Ukraine to monitor a future ceasefire.
Macron, US president-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed leveraging China's influence over Russia as part of a ceasefire deal.

"Trump also pushed the Europeans to do more to get the Chinese to press the Kremlin to end the conflict, according to a person briefed on the meeting. They discussed using tariffs on China as a bargaining chip, if Beijing doesn't agree to do so,"