French President Emmanuel Macron and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen are due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday as part of the two’s visit to the Asian country.
Later in the day, Macron and Von der Leyen will each meet separately with Xi before they hold trilateral talks in the evening.
China's National People's Congress Chairman Zhao Leji (R) shakes hands with French President Emmanuel Macron prior to their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 6, 2023
© AFP 2023 / THIBAULT CAMUS
As part of his trip to China, Macron has already met Li Qiang, the premier of the Chinese State Council, and Zhao Leji, the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Apart from Beijing, Macron would also visit the city of Guangzhou in China's southern province of Guangdong.
Shortly after the French president arrived in Beijing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying tweeted that Xi and Macron will conduct talks “to jointly chart the course for China-France relations and exchange views on major international and regional issues.”
“China and France are both permanent members of the UN Security Council and major countries in the world. China is ready to work with France for new deliverables as we advance a close and enduring comprehensive strategic partnership,” the spokesperson added.
Macron, for his part, underscored the importance of Brussels bolstering its economic relations with China, despite unbalanced bilateral trade ties.
"We have to somehow de-risk our industries [...] but we must not disassociate and separate ourselves," he said. Macron underlined that he looks to push back against the idea that there was an “inescapable spiral of mounting tensions” between China and the West.
Macron signaled readiness to “relaunch a strategic and global partnership with China”, with an eye on boosting Paris’s trade links with Beijing.
The French president also highlighted that China could play a major role in finding a "path to peace" in Ukraine, where Russia continues its special military operation.
"China, with its close relationship with Russia, which has been reaffirmed in recent days, can play a major role”, Macron pointed out, adding that France would engage "in this shared responsibility for peace and stability."
He was echoed by Von der Leyen, who pledged that the situation in Ukraine would be an “important topic” of her and Macron’s meetings with the Chinese president.
In this vein, an unnamed Elysee source was cited by a US news network as saying in an apparent reference to the Russian special operation that Macron visits China “not to question the Chinese red lines – notably the refusal to condemn Russia – but to find a space to be able to carry initiatives that have a useful effect for the benefit of the Ukrainian population, and then create a way to identify a solution to this war in the medium term.”
Macron’s trip to China comes less than a month after Xi made a three-day state visit to Moscow, where he and Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed their countries’ alignment on a host of pressing international issues.
Russia insists that it is open for negotiations with Kiev, even after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree prohibiting talks with Moscow. China, for its part, proposed a 12-point roadmap last month in a bid to bring the two sides to the negotiating table.