Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Paris this Sunday, May 5 in the afternoon, for a two-day state visit. Tuesday May 7, 2024, Emmanuel Macron takes him on a getaway to the Pyrenees.
This is the first time that the Chinese president has returned to Europe since 2019. He begins his stay with a two-day state visit to France. This Sunday, May 6, 2024, Xi Jinping was welcomed by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal at Paris’s Orly airport.
It comes to celebrate 60 years of Franco-Chinese diplomatic relations. After a very political day this Monday, May 6, 2024 in Paris, Emmanuel Macron decided to offer Xi Jinping a more personal getaway, accompanied by their respective wives, in the Hautes-Pyrénées, a place dear to the French president.
Lunch at La Mongie
The arrival of the two presidents is scheduled for late morning at Tarbes airport. The two men will then climb to the top of Tourmalet for lunch at La Mongie. The visit is scheduled to end at 5 p.m., according to France 3. A Chinese delegation has been staying at La Mongie for several days already to schedule this meeting.
Create a friendly exchange framework
The objective of this lunch on the Col du Tourmalet, where, as a child, Emmanuel Macron spent his holidays with his grandmother, “Manette”, is eminently diplomatic: to break the imposing protocol to establish a more direct dialogue, particularly on Ukraine. The sequence is intended to create a framework for friendly exchange between the two presidential couples.
Emmanuel Macron will invite his guests to “l’Étape du berger”, a high-altitude restaurant near the Col du Tourmalet run by his friend Eric Abadie, underlines The Dispatch.
Anger of Amnesty International activists
This Chinese visit arouses the anger of human rights defenders. Activists from local Amnesty International groups are calling for a rally in Toulouse this Monday, May 6 at 6:30 p.m. to denounce “crimes against humanity committed against the Uyghur population and persecution against rights defenders in China.”
The demonstrators will be dressed in blue blouses, which have become the symbol of repression in the autonomous region of Xinjiang.
