French President Emmanuel Macron has been accused of “flattering tyrants” and “rolling out the red carpet” for Chinese President Xi Jinping as the two leaders posed alongside their wives at the Elysee Palace.
Macron was joined by Ursula von de Leyen, head of the European Commission, when they met with Jinping, who financially and diplomatically supports Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
The meeting was held amid threats of a trade war between Europe and China centered on electric cars and cognac.
France backs an EU probe into Chinese electric vehicle exports, and in January Beijing led an investigation into imports of French-made brandy.
Ahead of Jinping’s first visit to the EU in five years, Macron told French newspaper La Tribune that an update in relations was necessary “because China now has excess capacity in many areas and exports massively to Europe.”
French President Emmanuel Macron (2nd from left) and his wife Brigitte Macron (l.) welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping (2nd from right) and his wife Peng Liyuan (right) at the Palace of Elysée in Paris, France, on May 6, 2024.
This is Jinping’s first appearance in the EU in five years, as the two world leaders discuss a looming trade war between Europe and China centered on electric cars and cognac.
Xi Jinping arrives at the Elysee Palace to meet Emmanuel Macron, while their wives shake hands on the red carpet
Macron will take his Chinese counterpart on a personal trip to the Pyrenees, his grandmother’s birthplace, while Jinping praised ties between the two nations after landing in Paris.
In a statement, he said ties between the two nations were a “model for the international community of peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation between countries with different social systems.”
“The future of our continent will very clearly depend on our ability to continue developing relations with China in a balanced way,” Macron said at the start of a trilateral meeting.
However, Macron was criticized for “rolling out the red carpet” for a “dictator” who backs Russia’s deadly war efforts.
French MEP and left-wing European election candidate Raphaël Glucksmann said Macron was just trying to get into the good books of autocrats.
he wrote in The world: ‘You roll out the red carpet and even invite (Xi Jinping) to a place dear to your childhood in the Pyrenees, an intimate place that is supposed to dress this special relationship you dream of with a mantle of friendship.
And, as always, he will justify such servility towards a dictator by saying that one must be realistic.
“But there is nothing ‘realistic’ about their servile attitude… Without China’s help, Russia would not have been able to stand up to Western sanctions and mount such a war effort.”
In an interview with France Inter, he continued: “Because Xi Jinping is not our friend: in addition to having deported the Uighur people, repressed the Tibetans and Hong Kong citizens and threatened the Taiwanese, Xi Jinping is the main supporter of the Putin’s war in Ukraine.
‘Without China’s help, Russia would not have been able to continue this war. “It is not by flattering tyrants that we demonstrate realism,” she said.
Macron was criticized for “rolling out the red carpet” for a “dictator” who backs Russia’s deadly war efforts.
Emmanuel Macron (second from left) and his wife Brigitte (left) pose for photographers alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan, during their two-day state visit.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s wife Peng Liyuan and French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte Macron speak during their visit to the Orsay Museum.
Emmanuel Macron will host Xi Jinping on a state visit on May 6, 2024, seeking to persuade the Chinese leader to change his position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and also imbalances in global trade.
China has long maintained that it is neutral in the war, but Beijing and Moscow have deepened their ties since the full-scale invasion began, and tyrant Putin is expected to visit China this month.
On Sunday night, Leyen noted the EU’s continued discontent with China, which she said “currently manufactures with massive subsidies.”
An oversupply of automobiles and steel due to weak domestic demand was leading to unacceptable and market-distorting trade practices that “could lead to deindustrialization in Europe” and job losses, especially in the German automobile industry.
Macron will try to dissuade Jinping from retaliating over the EV investigation, potentially with import duties on French cognac and agricultural products.
“For trade to be fair, access to both markets must be reciprocal,” Leyen said after the meeting.
“Our market is and remains open to fair competition and investment, but it is not good for Europe if it harms our security and makes us vulnerable.”
He said Europe “will not hesitate to take the difficult decisions necessary to protect its economy and its security.”
As for Ukraine, Leyen urged Jinping to honor China’s commitment not to provide any lethal equipment to Russia.
He said it encouraged him to make more efforts to limit dual-use goods sent to Russia that end up on the Ukrainian battlefield.
“Given the existential nature arising from this threat to both Ukraine and Europe, this affects EU-China relations,” he said.
After Monday’s summit, Macron and his wife Brigitte will host Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan at a state banquet.
On Tuesday, Macron will take the Chinese leader to the Pyrenees, where the two couples are expected to take a cable car to the top of the 9,439-foot Pic du Midi, a dark-sky reserve.
After ruining his trip in France, Jinping will head to Serbia, where he will arrive in Belgrade on the 25th anniversary of the Chinese embassy bombing for talks with President Aleksandar Vucic.
The Chinese leader will then travel to Budapest on May 8, the last stop on his European tour.
There he will meet with Hungarian President Viktor Orban, Russia’s most friendly leader in the EU.