What does China want from French President Macron's visit?

At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron will pay a state visit to China from April 5 to April 7. This is President Macron's third visit to China and the first visit during the French leader's second term.

In an interview with Nouvelles d'Europe, Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye noted that the visit sent “a positive signal to the outside world that the two countries are closely cooperating in various fields and jointly responding to global crises, creating new momentum for the development of the China-France and China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era.”

“President Macron's visit is expected to become an important driving force for restarting China-France relations in the post-pandemic era and creating a new model for the development of China-France relations,” Ambassador Lu said.

The plane carrying the French President is expected to land in Beijing at around 3:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. Hanoi time) on April 5. During the three-day visit, Mr. Macron will have plenty of time to meet face-to-face with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

After formal meetings in Beijing on April 6, also attended by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Mr Macron and Mr Xi will travel to the southern city of Guangzhou.

Meeting a world leader in a second location outside Beijing is rare for Mr. Xi, who usually reserves the honor for close friends like Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2018, for example, Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin took a high-speed train to Tianjin and watched a hockey game together.

World - What does China want from French President Macron's visit? — During his state visit to China from April 5 to 7, 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron will have more than 6 hours of face-to-face meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo: Shutterstock

French officials said they had felt a special warmth from their Chinese counterparts ahead of the trip, and preparations for the visit were smoother and friendlier than Macron's previous visits.

With Angela Merkel no longer German chancellor , Xi Jinping now sees Macron as someone who can push the EU toward a more moderate stance toward China.

In addition to being an influential voice among NATO allies, France is also a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) – and Mr Macron has sought dialogue with Mr Putin to find a diplomatic solution to end the conflict in Ukraine.

“From China’s perspective, Macron is certainly the most important politician in Europe,” said Joerg Wuttke, head of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.

With US-China relations in a difficult state, Beijing is looking to prevent Europe from joining Washington in controlling exports of key technologies that could affect growth in the world's second-largest economy.

In addition, the EU – including Germany and France – is seeking to balance its desire to engage with China on trade and investment while still asserting what it sees as core European values, including respect for human rights and territorial sovereignty in places like Ukraine.

World - What does China want from French President Macron's visit? (Image 2). — Three Chinese state-owned airlines - China Southern, Air China and China Eastern - announced in early July 2022 a deal to buy 292 aircraft from France-based Airbus, worth a total of about $37 billion. Photo: Global Times

Mr Macron, who came to power in 2017, worked with Ms Merkel to negotiate the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), a pact between China and the EU that was meant to take economic ties to a new level. However, it was shelved in 2021 due to a dispute over sanctions, and now appears to be dead.

“Now that Merkel is retired, it’s Macron who knows all the ground,” said Henry Wang Huiyao, founder of the Center for China and Globalization. “He is in a better position to advance EU-China relations and Franco-Chinese relations.”

Accompanying the French President to Beijing and Guangzhou this time is a delegation of more than 50 leading businesses, with famous names such as electricity company Electricite de France (EDF) SA, train manufacturer Alstom SA, water and waste management company Veolia Environnement SA, and especially Airbus SE.

The European aircraft giant is in talks to sign a multibillion-dollar deal to sell wide-body jets to China as early as this week, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter .

Minh Duc (According to Bloomberg, Global Times)

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