On his first visit to Europe in five years, the Chinese president’s work agenda is to deepen political and economic ties with the European Union, as a way of counterbalancing the tense relations between Beijing and Washington, but also defending the alliance with Russia. Xi Jinping’s first stop is scheduled for today and tomorrow in France, followed by Serbia and Hungary, two countries that are close to the Kremlin.
“Contacts will focus on international crises, namely the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East, on trade issues”, among other matters, as reported by the French presidency, also remembering that this visit marks 60 years of diplomatic relations between France and China and follows a visit by President Emmanuel Macron to Beijing and Guangzhou in April 2023.
During that visit, Macron called on Xi Jinping to “call Russia to reason” regarding Ukraine “and for everyone to return to the negotiating table”. Now, the main subject that the French president wants to discuss with his Chinese counterpart is, once again, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a country with which Beijing has already claimed to have “an unlimited friendship”.
“China will not change its position in relation to Russia,” Valérie Niquet, from the French think tank Foundation for Strategic Research, told AFP. “If the European side expects China to impose sanctions on Russia or to join the United States and Europe in imposing economic sanctions on Russia, I think that is unlikely to happen,” added Ding Chun, director of the Center for European Studies from Fudan University, Shanghai.
Something that pleases Xi Jinping on his visit to France is the fact that Emmanuel Macron argues that Europe “should never be a vassal of the United States” and that the survival of the European Union depends on its “strategic autonomy”. “Macron is trying to bring a third way to the current global chaos. He is trying to walk a fine line between the two great superpowers,” he said. The New York Times Philippe Le Corre, French expert on relations with China. “We will see how far Xi Jinping will go to please Emmanuel Macron”, Valérie Niquet told AFP.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, participates today in a meeting in Paris with Macron and Xi, at the invitation of the French president. In recent months, there has been a rapprochement between China and the European Union, despite tensions in the areas of trade, economy and respect for human rights. However, disagreements worsened in mid-April when Brussels announced an investigation into the Chinese medical devices market to determine whether China discriminates against European companies in public tenders in this sector. Investigations are already underway into possible illegal subsidies granted to Chinese turbine manufacturers within the scope of wind farms in Spain, Greece, France and Bulgaria and alleged subsidies on imports of electric vehicles in China.
“The Chinese side is very interested in bringing this to the table, but France supports the European Commission’s plans”, explains Le Corre to AFP. “It is time for European leaders to explain to China that the price to pay for its growing support for Russia’s war efforts will increase,” he added.
After France, Xi Jinping will visit, between Wednesday and Friday, Serbia, where China is the second largest trading partner, and Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has supported large Chinese investments. It should be noted that the trip to Belgrade will coincide with the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in the Serbian capital during the Kosovo war, in which three Chinese journalists died. The attack was carried out in error, prompting the United States to apologize to Beijing. “For Xi, being in Belgrade is an economical way of questioning whether the United States is really serious about international law and saying that NATO’s extension of action is a problem for other countries,” he explained to The New York Times Janka Oertel, director of the Asia program at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
