Xi Jinping wants to “work with France” to “resolve the crisis” in Ukraine

Barely arrived Sunday à Paris for a state visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping said want to "&work with France and the entire communityé international " à "resolve the crisis" in Ukraine.

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.

“We hope that peace and stability will return quickly in Europe, and intend to work with France and the entire international community to find good avenues to resolve the crisis”, writes the number one of the Asian superpower in an article published by the daily Le Figaro.

Paris, for its part, wants to ensure that China, the main ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, does not fall into clear support for his 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.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan greeted as they got off the plane by French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal (L), May 5, 2024 at Orly airport © POOL – STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN

Emmanuel Macron carried this same message a year ago during his own state visit to China, with modest results.

After France, the Chinese president , returning to Europe for the first time since 2019, will visit Serbia and Hungary, two countries that have remained close to Moscow.

– Trade disputes –

Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed on his arrival in France by French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, May 5, 2024 at Paris Orly airport © POOL – STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN

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.

In the morning, the President of the European Commission 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, in particular to electric vehicles, accused of distorting competition.

Chinese Presidents Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron on April 7, 2023 in Guangzhou, southern China © POOL – Jacques WITT

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 actors still see China essentially as a market of opportunities” while it ” exports massively to Europe”.

He pleads for “better to protect our national security”, “to be much more realistic in the defense of our interests” and “obtain reciprocity”.

In Beijing, these measures deemed “protectionist” go down badly. The Chinese authorities have launched their own anti-subsidy investigation mainly targeting French cognac, against which the French president intends to speak out.

Chinese Presidents Xi Jinping and French Presidents Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by an interpreter, on April 7, 2023 in Guangzhou, southern China © POOL – Jacques WITT

If no incredible contract was announced at this stage, discussions on investments were ongoing until the end. A Franco-Chinese economic forum is planned for Monday at the Marigny theater.

Xi Jinping assures in Le Figaro that the two countries are able to “deepen their cooperation in terms of innovation to promote green development” as is already the case with battery factories, hoping that France will offer its companies “a fair and equitable business climate”.

– “Closed doors” –

Demonstrators carry Tibetan flags and hold a “Free Tibet” sign during a rally against the visit to France of Chinese President Xi Jinping, May 5, 2024 in Paris © AFP – Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT

In the afternoon, after a formal welcoming ceremony with great fanfare at the Invalides, and before a banquet at the Elysée, Emmanuel Macron and Xi Jinping will meet face-to-face for the most political sequence, then will speak in front of the press.

The French intend to ask the Chinese to support the “Olympic truce” for “all” of the conflicts in the occasion of the Paris Games this summer, including the one in Ukraine.

The French president will drive the point home on Tuesday, in the Pyrenees, during a more personal getaway between the two men, accompanied by their wives.

The objective of this lunch on the Col du Tourmalet, where, as a child, he spent his holidays with his grandmother, is eminently diplomatic: breaking the imposing protocol to establish a more direct dialogue, particularly on Ukraine.

Demonstration in support of the Tibetan people and against the visit to France of Chinese President Xi Jinping, May 5, 2024 in Paris © AFP – Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT

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 the Taiwan issue a priority, even though it is at the heart of the 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”.

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