French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to deepen his personal bond with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the latter's two-day visit to France, as he appeals to the Chinese leader to urge Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin to end Russia's war against Ukraine, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the plans, UNN reports.
Details
"President Emmanuel Macron aims to deepen his personal connection with Xi during the two-day visit to France, as he appeals to the Chinese leader to urge Vladimir Putin to end Russia’s war in Ukraine," the newspaper writes, citing sources.
According to sources, Macron is also seeking to attract Chinese investment in the French electric vehicle battery sector.
This "charm offensive" will include inviting Xi Jinping to dinner at the Elysee Palace in Paris, where the people said the menu may include French cognac, a drink that is under anti-dumping investigation in Beijing. Macron is then expected to invite his Chinese counterpart to a corner of the Pyrenees Mountains where the French president visited his grandmother as a child, the sources added.
"French President Emmanuel Macron is offering Xi the opportunity to negotiate with a leading EU power that has proven itself to be willing to take a more independent path," said Chong Jah Yan, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore. The trip, he said, "is an attempt to engage those parts of Europe that Xi believes may be more sympathetic to his position.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Macron's diplomatic adviser on Saturday that he hoped Paris could push the EU to pursue a pragmatic policy toward Beijing. Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also hold a trilateral meeting with Xi Jinping during their visit, her main spokesperson wrote on the social media platform X.
Addendum
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is heading to the European Union for the first time in five years with what Bloomberg writes is a clear message: Beijing offers far more economic opportunities for the bloc than the United States wants to recognize.
According to the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, the Chinese leader will begin his five-day trip to France, Serbia and Hungary on May 5. These countries are eager for investment from China, despite multiple EU investigations into Beijing's industrial policies and warnings from officials in Washington about the risks, the newspaper said.
"I think it's part of trying to convince the Europeans that there are better options and that a better relationship is possible," Duncan Freeman, a lecturer in Sino-European relations at the Brussels School of Management in Belgium, said before Xi Jinping's trip.