Emmanuel Macron sets trade and Ukraine as priority on European visit

“We are at a turning point in our history” as Europe-China relations face challenges, Macron said.

The talks are aimed at sharing “both our shared positions and our concerns to try to overcome them, because the future of our continent will very clearly also depend on our ability to develop a balanced relationship with China,” he said.

Macron, a strong defender of Europe’s economic sovereignty, wants to raise France’s concerns about China’s anti-dumping investigation into cognac and other European brandy, as well as tensions over French cosmetics and other sectors.

In a recent speech, he denounced the trade practices of both China and the United States as supporting protectionism and subsidies.

At the start of the meeting in Paris, Xi said that “the world today has entered a new period of turbulence and change.”

“As two important powers in the world, China and Europe must … continuously make new contributions to world peace and development,” he said.

The EU launched an investigation last fall into Chinese subsidies and may impose tariffs on electric vehicles exported from China.

“The European Union and China want good relations,” von der Leyen said.

“We have significant economic relations between the EU and China.

“But this relationship is also challenged, for example, by state-induced overcapacity, unequal market access and overdependence.”

Paris is the first stop on Xi’s European tour as he seeks to restore relations at a time of global tension. After France on Monday and Tuesday, he will head to Serbia and Hungary.

France hopes the discussions will help persuade China to use its influence with Moscow to “contribute to the resolution of the conflict” in Ukraine, according to a French presidential official.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced plans to visit China this month.

Macron will press Xi for supplies from Chinese companies supporting the Russian military effort despite EU sanctions, he said. China claims neutrality in the Ukrainian conflict.

France also wants China to maintain a dialogue with Kiev, added the official, who was not authorized to be identified under presidential policy.

Last year, Macron called on Xi to “bring Russia to its senses,” but the call was not followed by visible action from Beijing.

“The French authorities are pursuing two goals that are ultimately at odds with each other,” said Marc Julien, director of the Center for Asian Studies at the French Institute of International Affairs.

“On the one hand, to convince Xi that it is in his interest to help the Europeans put pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the war, and on the other hand, to dissuade the Chinese president from supplying arms to his Russian friend.”

“In short, we think Xi can help us, but at the same time we fear that he can help Putin.

As France prepares to host the Summer Olympics, Macron said he would ask Xi to use his influence to turn the games into a “diplomatic moment of peace”.

The discussions will also be closely watched from Washington, a month before President Joe Biden makes his own state visit to France.

Xi’s visit marks the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and China and follows Macron’s visit to China in April 2023.

Macron sparked controversy during that trip after he said France would not blindly follow the US in meddling in crises that are not its concern, apparently referring to China’s demands for unification with Taiwan.

Several groups – including the International Campaign for Tibet and the French League for Human Rights – have called on Macron to put human rights issues at the center of his talks with Xi. Protesters demonstrated in Paris upon Xi’s arrival on Sunday, calling for a free Tibet.

Amnesty International called on Macron to demand the release of Uyghur economics professor Ilham Tohti, who was sentenced to life in prison in China in 2014 on charges of promoting separatism, as well as other jailed activists.

On Monday morning, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders organized a protest outside the Arc de Triomphe monument to condemn Xi’s visit, calling the Chinese president “one of the biggest predators of press freedom.”

The group says 119 journalists are imprisoned in the country.

Macron said in an interview published on Sunday that he would raise human rights concerns.

Later on Monday, an official ceremony is due to be held at the monument to the disabled ahead of bilateral talks at the presidential Elysée Palace.

Macron and Xi will wrap up the nearby France-China Economic Forum and then join their wives for a state dinner.

The second day of the visit is meant to be a more personal moment.

Macron invited Xi to visit the Tourmalet pass in the Pyrenees mountains on Tuesday, 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.