Key takeaways from Xi,Macron meeting at China

#Key #takeaways #XiMacron #meeting #China

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, along with French President Emmanuel Macron, will make his fourth state visit to China on Friday, Reuters reported.

Xi Jinping accompanied the French leader during a trip to Chengdu in a rare gesture by China that underscores Beijing’s focus on Paris in its relationship with the European Union.

XI breaks meeting protocol for Macron, joins him on informal trip

This is the first time Xi Jinping has held an informal tourism meeting outside of Beijing.

Even when US President Donald Trump made an important visit to China early in his first term in 2017, and XI graced him with a private dinner in Beijing’s Forbidden City, the trip was limited to the Chinese capital.

Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, touched down in Beijing for a 3-day visit, where the French president was greeted by a military band and groups of children waving flags at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

France and China should overcome their ‘differences’, Macron stressed

The two leaders attended the end of the Franco-Chinese Business Forum with an agenda of strengthening diplomatic ties and addressing global issues such as trade and war.

The country’s trade deficit with the world’s second-largest economy widened to 46 billion ($54 billion) in 2024.

Macron told 11 that France and China must overcome their ‘differences’

“We must continue to work towards peace and stability in the world, and in Ukraine and other war-torn regions,” Macron told 11.

XI also called for Beijing’s support for a cease-fire.

“China supports all efforts for peace and hopes that all parties will reach a fair, lasting and binding peace agreement that is acceptable to all parties through dialogue and negotiation,” Xi said.

Key takeaway from XI, Macron meeting in China

According to analysts, the joint trip gives Macron a chance to revive the states after a tough summer in domestic politics.

The 11th Macron meeting resulted in 12 cooperation agreements covering areas such as population ageing, nuclear energy and panda conservation, and did not disclose any monetary aggregates.

“The French people love giant pandas, and based on previous cooperation, the two sides will embark on a new era of cooperation in giant panda conservation,” Illion said.

The Chinese president announced that China and France have agreed to a new agreement on panda conservation.

Eleven reported that the Chinese embassy had promised that new bears would soon be dispatched for the popular pair’s departure.

Beijing may see friendly relations with France as a way to increase its influence within the 27-strong European Union, but no major concessions or major business deals were signed at an event between Xi and Macron, who was traveling with a large business delegation.

Macron urged the XI to cooperate on geopolitics, trade and the environment as the EU seeks to help China end the war in Ukraine, while the XI asked France to maintain its independence in geopolitics.

Macron had been expecting China to support France in the wake of the Ukraine war, but XI was in no position to offer Macron an update on the war as China reaffirmed its support for Russia.

Analysts have suggested that the EU should really consider its China policy and not tie it too closely to Russia and Ukraine.

Additionally, the Chinese leader was not expected to sign off on the long-anticipated 500-jet Airbus order, for example, which would reduce China’s leverage in trade negotiations with the U.S., which is pressuring Boeing’s new commitments.

XI also raised the prospect of a trade deal with the EU, which Macron-China’s top diplomat Wang Yi brought up when Estonia’s foreign minister visited last month, and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has spoken of talks on a key EU investment milestone from 2021 onwards.

Results of the meeting:

After the meeting ended, the French president expressed, “We are in a moment of unprecedented rupture.”

“The world we built after World War II, which was based on what we call multilateralism and therefore cooperation between powers, is cracking, fracturing.”

Macron also took aim at China’s idea that the West is losing power when he said, “A lot of people will try to tell you that Europe is old and that the rich countries you find in the G7 are arrogant. That the West is looking to the global south. But it’s all a narrative, a fabrication.”

While XI called on both parties to promote mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the European Union.

“China’s open door will only open wider,” Xi said, adding that the country intends to “enhance market access, and open investment sectors and lead a cross-border, orderly and rational arrangement of industrial and supply chains.”

Macron, who will host the G7 summit next year, urged Beijing to work with the group for ‘more balanced, better rules-based’ economic governance.