French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday was to press Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to use his influence to move Russia toward ending the war in Ukraine during a two-day state visit to France. The leaders were also expected to discuss trade disputes over electric vehicles, cognac and cosmetics.
Macron’s office said talks about diplomatic efforts to support Ukraine and put pressure on Russia are a top priority for France. Discussions would also include the Middle East, trade issues and global challenges including climate change. The European Commission president was to join part of the meetings to raise broader EU concerns.
France is the first stop on a European trip by Xi aimed at rebuilding relations at a time of global tensions. After France yesterday and today, the Chinese leader is to head to Serbia and Hungary.
Photo: AFP
France hopes the discussions would help convince China to use its leverage with Moscow to “contribute to a resolution of the conflict” in Ukraine, a French presidential official said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced plans to visit China this month.
Macron was to press Xi over supplies from Chinese companies supporting the Russian war effort despite EU sanctions, the official said. China claims neutrality in the Ukraine conflict.
France also wants China to maintain a dialogue with Kyiv, added the official, who was not authorized to be identified according to presidential policy.
Macron last year appealed to Xi to “bring Russia to its senses,” but the call was not followed by any apparent change in Beijing’s stance.
“French authorities are pursuing two objectives that are ultimately contradictory,” Marc Julienne, director of the Center for Asian Studies at the French Institute of International Relations, wrote in a briefing note. “On the one hand, to convince Xi that it’s in his interest to help Europeans to put pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the war and, on the other hand, to dissuade the Chinese president from delivering arms to his Russian friend.”
“In short, we think that Xi can help us, but at the same time we fear that he could help Putin,” Julienne wrote.
As France prepares to host the Olympics, Macron said he would ask Xi to use his influence to make the Games “a diplomatic moment of peace” and respect the Olympic Truce.
Macron, a strong advocate of Europe’s economic sovereignty, is expected to focus on trade, too. He would raise French concerns about a Chinese anti-dumping investigation into cognac and other European brandy, and tensions over French cosmetics and other sectors.
In a recent speech, he denounced the trade practices of both China and the US as shoring up protections and subsidies.
Xi yesterday was first to join a meeting with Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“Europe cannot accept such market distorting practices that could lead to deindustrialization in Europe,” Von der Leyen said in a statement ahead of the meeting. “We have to act to make sure that competition is fair and not distorted.”
Macron has coordinated with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who recently visited China and traveled to Paris last week for a private dinner with the French president.
German government spokesperson Wolfgang Buechner on Friday last week said that Scholz in China had “clearly said that the question of overcapacity and competition though subsidies needs to be addressed.”
The EU launched an investigation last year into Chinese subsidies and could impose tariffs on electric vehicles exported from China.
The discussions would also be closely watched in Washington, just one month before US President Joe Biden is expected to pay his own state visit to France.
Xi’s visit to Paris marks the 60th anniversary of France-China diplomatic relations, and follows Macron’s trip to China in April last year. Macron prompted controversy on that trip after he said France would not blindly follow the US in getting involved in crises that are not of its concern, an apparent reference to China’s demands for unification with Taiwan.
Several groups, including the International Campaign for Tibet and France’s Human Rights League urged Macron to put human rights issues at the heart of his talks with Xi. Protesters demonstrated in Paris as Xi arrived on Sunday, calling for a free Tibet.
Amnesty International called on Macron to demand the release of Uighur economics professor Ilham Tohti, who was jailed for life in 2014 on charges of promoting separatism, and other imprisoned activists.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders yesterday morning staged a protest in front of the Arc de Triomphe to denounce Xi’s visit, calling the Chinese president “one of the greatest predators of press freedom” as the group says 119 journalists are imprisoned in the nation.
Macron in an interview published on Sunday said that he would raise human rights concerns.
Yesterday’s welcome ceremony was to take place at the Invalides monument before bilateral talks at the Elysee presidential palace. Macron and Xi would conclude a nearby French-Chinese economic forum and then join their wives for a state dinner.
The second day of the visit is meant to be more personal.
Macron has invited Xi to visit the Tourmalet Pass in the Pyrenees, where the French leader spent time as a child to see his grandmother. The trip is meant to be a reciprocal gesture after Xi took Macron last year to the residence of the governor of Guangdong Province, where his father once lived.
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