Xi is in France for his first European tour for five years. The two-day visit will be followed by stop-offs in Serbia and Hungary.
In Paris, Ukraine has featured prominently on the agenda. European officials believe dual-use goods, such as microchips and satellite imaging equipment, are helping to power Moscow’s war machine.
Macron also thanked Xi for backing his idea for an “Olympic truce” – which would see all global conflicts pause during the Paris Olympics in July and August.
Xi, in comments quoted by Xinhua, warned against “smearing” China over Ukraine.
“We oppose using the Ukraine crisis to cast blame, smear a third country and incite a new Cold War,” Xi said, as both leaders gave statements.
Xi said China was “not watching the fire from the sidelines, we have always been playing a positive role in achieving peace”.
Earlier in the day, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who took part in a trilateral meeting with the two national leaders, said that “more effort is needed to curtail delivery of dual-use goods to Russia that find their way to the battlefield”.
On trade issues, Macron also appeared to gain some ground with Xi. In a nod to a developing dispute, he gave Xi a bottle of Louis XIII cognac and thanked him for his “open attitude” towards Beijing’s trade probe into the premium liquor’s exports to China.
Beijing’s anti-dumping investigation is seen to be in response to a European Union inquiry into subsidies in China’s electric vehicle sector, a probe Macron strongly supports.
“I thank the president for his open attitude regarding provisional measures on cognac,” Macron said, as the leaders made statements in front of the press, during the first day of Xi’s first European state visit in five years.
The exchanges happened at a tense moment for EU-China trade relations, with some speculating that the powers were teetering on the brink of a trade war.
European leaders have railed against what they describe as “overcapacity” in China’s manufacturing sector. They believe there is not enough demand in China to absorb the volume of hi-tech goods being made there, and that these goods will be exported to the bloc en masse at discount prices, endangering local producers.
Von der Leyen warned that “Europe will not waver from making tough decisions needed to protect its economy and its security”, adding that Brussels was willing to use the trade weapons at its disposal to counter Beijing’s policies.
During Monday’s trilateral meeting, Xi rejected these claims, saying “there is no such thing as China’s overcapacity problem”.
On the sidelines of a business conference tied to Xi’s visit, Chinese and French enterprises signed a series of deals.
These included an agreement between France’s Orano and China’s Xiamen Tungsten New Energy to forge a “global strategic partnership” in the battery industry, and a memorandum of understanding between French company Fives and Chinese firm Envision to cooperate in battery cell assembly in France.
A long list of Chinese companies were invited to this part of the summit, including some that have been in the cross hairs of European regulators. Among them were telecoms giants Huawei Technologies and ZTE, and rail equipment provider CRRC.
One notable absentee was BYD, the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer. Earlier in the day, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the country was open to Chinese investment in its electric vehicle sector, including from BYD.
“France welcomes all industrial projects. BYD and the Chinese auto industry are very welcome in France,” Le Maire told a gathering of automotive executives.