This Sunday early in the afternoon, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping to Orly, for a two-day state visit to France. This trip, on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Paris, is his third to France since he came to power eleven years ago, and the first to Europe since 2019 .
Monday will be devoted to diplomatic discussions and official ceremonies. Emmanuel Macron consulted in advance with the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who could not be present, and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will join the Franco-Chinese duo at the Élysée for a session which should make it possible to raise commercial disputes. “We must continue to push the Chinese authorities to give us more guarantees on trade issues,” said an Elysée advisor before the visit.
Threatened with being caught between the American and Chinese economies, massively aided by public authorities, the European Union has in recent months increased investigations into Chinese state subsidies to several industrial sectors, in particular to electric vehicles, accused of distorting competition. In response to reactions it considers “protectionist”, Beijing has opened an investigation into imports of cognac, an alcohol mainly manufactured in France.
Paris also wants to progress in opening the Chinese market to its agricultural exports and resolve problems linked to the concerns of the cosmetics industry – a sector where France is a world leader – regarding intellectual property rights. New rules require cosmetics exporters to share formulas and manufacturing know-how when bringing their products into China.
“Obtain reciprocity”, the objective of the Head of State
In an interview with La Tribune on Sunday, Emmanuel Macron recognizes that Europeans are “not unanimous” on the strategy to adopt because, he says, “certain players still see China essentially as a market of opportunities” while it “ exports massively to Europe. He pleads to “better protect our national security”, “be much more realistic in the defense of our interests” and “obtain reciprocity”. A Franco-Chinese economic forum is also planned for Monday at the Marigny theater, which could lead to investment announcements.
Furthermore, for the past year, France has been pushing China to pressure Moscow to end its operations in Ukraine, with little progress so far, aside from Xi’s decision to call the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time shortly after Macron’s visit to Beijing last year. “China being one of Russia’s main partners, our objective is to use the levers it has over Moscow to change Russia’s calculations and contribute to the resolution of the conflict,” declared the same advisor to the ‘Elysium. President Macron intends to ask his Chinese counterpart to support the “Olympic truce” for “all” conflicts during the Paris Games this summer, while Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to visit China in May.
The French president will try to insist on Tuesday, in the Pyrenees, on the occasion of a more personal getaway between the two men, accompanied by their wives. A lunch is organized on the Col du Tourmalet with the aim of breaking the imposing protocol to establish a more direct dialogue with President Xi. Emmanuel Macron went there a lot in his childhood to visit his maternal grandmother, Germaine Noguès, who died in 2013, and who lived in Bagnères-de-Bigorre. This meeting is intended to echo the one organized last year in China. Xi Jinping received his counterpart in Guangzhou for a tea ceremony at the residence of the governor of Guangdong province. His father, Xi Zhongxun, had lived there when he held this position from 1978 to 1981.
