On April 6, 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) and French President Macron attended the official welcome ceremony in Beijing.
Ludovic Marin | AFP | Getty Images
Chinese President Xi Jinping will make a rare visit to Paris on Sunday, where French President Emmanuel Macron will pressure him to reduce trade imbalances and try to persuade him to use his influence with Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Neither goal will be easily achieved during Xi’s two-day stay in France, where he arrives amid rising trade tensions between Europe and China.
France has backed an EU investigation into China’s electric car exports, and in January Beijing launched an investigation into imports of brandy, which is mostly produced in France, in a move widely seen as tit-for-tat retaliation for a growing number of EU investigations.
“We must continue to push the Chinese authorities to give us more guarantees on trade issues,” an Elysée Palace adviser said ahead of Xi Jinping’s first visit to Europe in five years.
Xi Jinping is expected to arrive at around 4 pm (1400 GMT). His official meeting will include joint talks with Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Divisions within the EU’s 27 member states, particularly between France and Germany, have undermined their ability to influence China. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not travel to Paris with Macron and Xi Jinping due to previous commitments, sources said.
“If European leaders send a different message to Xi Jinping, the influence will disappear,” said Noah Barkin, a senior adviser at Rhodium Group and a close follower of China-EU relations.
France will also seek to make progress in opening the Chinese market to its agricultural exports and address concerns about intellectual property rights in the French cosmetics industry, officials said.
Ukraine talks
France has been keen to press China to pressure Moscow to halt its actions in Ukraine, but there has been little progress so far, apart from Xi Jinping’s decision to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time shortly after Macron’s visit to Beijing last year.
“China is one of Russia’s main partners and our goal is to use its influence over Moscow to change Russia’s calculations and help resolve the conflict,” the Elysee Palace adviser said.
“If China seeks to deepen relations with its European partners, it is very important that they listen to our point of view and start taking it seriously,” a French diplomatic source said.
On Tuesday, Macron will take Xi to the Pyrenees, a mountain he particularly cherishes because it is the birthplace of his maternal grandmother.
The gesture echoed Xi Jinping’s decision to invite Macron to a tea ceremony at the former residence of Xi Jinping’s father in Guangzhou.
“Macron is always in charm mode, trying to win the support of foreign leaders by building a personal rapport with them,” Barkin said.
“But I hope he doesn’t have any illusions that bringing Xi Jinping to a place that was important to his childhood will bring Xi Jinping to tears and lead to compromises from Beijing.”
Xi Jinping will leave France on Tuesday afternoon for Russia-friendly Serbia and Hungary.
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