PARIS - Chinese President Xi Jinping lauded his country’s ties with France as an international model on May 5 as he arrived in Paris for a rare visit against a backdrop of mounting trade disputes with the European Union.
French President Emmanuel Macron is set to urge Mr Xi to reduce trade imbalances and to use his influence with Russia over the war in Ukraine. Mr Xi is due to meet Mr Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on May 6.
Mr Xi, who was welcomed in Paris by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, said in a statement released on his arrival that China-France relations were “a model for the international community of peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation between countries with different social systems”.
France is backing an EU probe into Chinese electric vehicle exports, and in January, Beijing opened an investigation into mostly French-made imports of brandy, a move widely seen as a tit-for-tat retaliation for the probe.
“We want to obtain reciprocity of exchanges and have the elements of our economic security taken into account,” Mr Macron said in an interview with French newspaper La Tribune ahead of Mr Xi’s two-day visit, his first trip to the region in five years.
The EU’s 27 member states – in particular France and Germany – are divided on their attitude towards China.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not join Mr Macron and Mr Xi in Paris due to prior commitments, sources said.
“In Europe, we are not unanimous on the subject because certain players still see China as essentially a market of opportunities,” Mr Macron said, without naming any countries.
These divisions could undermine the EU’s ability to influence the Asian giant.
France will also seek to make progress on opening the Chinese market to its agricultural exports and resolve issues around the French cosmetic industry’s concerns about intellectual property rights, officials said.
Beijing may announce an order for around 50 Airbus aircraft during Mr Xi's visit, but it remains uncertain whether it will be a new deal, people familiar with the negotiations said.
France has been keen to nudge China into pressuring Russia to halt operations in Ukraine, with little progress apart from Mr Xi’s decision to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time shortly after Mr Macron visited Beijing in 2023.
“If the Chinese seek to deepen the relationship with European partners, it is really important that they hear our point of view and start taking it seriously,” a French diplomatic source said.
Mr Macron will take Mr Xi to the Pyrenees, a mountainous region dear to the French President as the birthplace of his maternal grandmother, on May 7 before Mr Xi heads to Russia-friendly Serbia and Hungary. REUTERS
