Barely arriving in Paris on Sunday for a state visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he wanted to “work with France and the entire international community” to “resolve the crisis” in Ukraine. Since Friday, several demonstrations by the Tibetan and Uighur communities have taken place in the French capital.
Welcomed shortly after 4:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. GMT) at Orly airport by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, he will be received on Monday at the Elysée by French President Emmanuel Macron, who intends to advocate commercial “reciprocity” and the search for a resolution of the war in Ukraine in the face of a Chinese leader who continues to show his support for Russia.
Paris wants to ensure that China, the main ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, does not fall into clear support for its war effort against kyiv. Even “encourage it to use the levers” it has over Moscow to “contribute to a resolution of this conflict”, according to the Elysée.
On Monday, Xi Jinping, who is coming to celebrate 60 years of Franco-Chinese diplomatic relations, will continue meetings with Emmanuel Macron, who consulted in advance with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Numerous commercial disputes
In the morning, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will join the Franco-Chinese duo at the Elysée for a session which should make it possible to raise trade disputes.
And they are many. 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, particularly electric vehicles, accused of distorting competition.
>> Read also: China becomes the new electric automobile empire
The sensitive issue of human rights
On the sensitive issue of human rights, Emmanuel Macron says he prefers to discuss “disagreements” rather “behind closed doors”. Paris also did not want to make it a priority the Taiwan fileyet at the heart of strong tensions between the United States and China.
Several thousand Tibetans, according to their representatives, gathered on Sunday in Paris to protest against the visit of the Chinese president to France, a “country of human rights” which welcomes “a dictator”.
Friday, during a press conference, the French Uyghur community also expressed its “anger” at the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, believing that this welcome was “an encouragement for China to continue its crimes.”
After France, the Chinese president, returning for the first time to Europe since 2019, will visit Serbia and Hungary, two countries that have remained close to Moscow.
>> Read also: China is giving itself the means to impose its vision of the world
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