French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen pressed Xi Jinping at a summit in Paris on Monday, May 6, pressed Xi Jinping to use Beijing's influence to halt the Russian war against Ukraine, also telling the Chinese leader to accept fair global trade rules.
Xi's first visit to Europe since 2019 will also see him hold talks in Serbia and Hungary. Xi has said he wants to find peace in Ukraine even if analysts do not expect major changes in Chinese policy. But his choice of France as the sole major European power on his itinerary indicates the importance the leader of the one-party Communist state of more than 1.4 billion people accords to Macron as an EU powerbroker over two years into Russia's invasion.
Opening an initial trilateral meeting attended by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Macron said coordination with Beijing on "major crises" including Ukraine was "absolutely decisive" and urged "fair rules for all" in Europe-China trade. "The future of our continent will very clearly depend on our ability to continue to develop relations with China in a balanced manner," Macron said.
Xi said China and the EU should "remain partners" and "carry out strategic coordination" and thus "make new contributions to world peace and development."
Von der Leyen said she will press for "fair" competition with China in global trade, adding that in previous talks with Xi she had "made clear that the current imbalances in market access are not sustainable and need to be addressed." "We have been very clear-eyed about our relationship with China, which is one of the most complex, but also one of the most important," she said.
Both Macron and von der Leyen have indicated that trade was a priority in the talks, underscoring that Europe must defend its "strategic interests" in its economic relations with China. "Europe will not waver from making tough decisions needed to protect its economy and its security," she said. Von der Leyen said there were "imbalances that remain significant" and "a matter of great concern," singling out Chinese subsidies for electric cars and steel that were "flooding the European market." China also continued to "massively support its manufacturing sector" whose surplus production could not be absorbed by the rest of the world.
"China that plays fair is good for all of us," von der Leyen said following talks in Paris with Xi Jinping and Macron. While she expressed confidence of possible progress in talks, von der Leyen also said that "we stand ready to make full use of our trade defense instruments if this is necessary," adding that "Europe cannot accept market distorting practises."
A key priority of Macron will be to warn Xi of the danger of backing Russia, with Western officials concerned that, while officially neutral in the Ukraine conflict, China is essentially backing Russia which is already using Chinese machine tools in arms production. Beijing's ties with Moscow have, if anything, warmed after the invasion and the West wants China above all not to supply weapons to Russia and risk tipping the balance in the conflict.
"It is in our interest to get China to weigh in on the stability of the international order," Macron said in an interview with British newspaper The Economist published on Thursday. Like von der Leyen, Macron also said in the same interview that trade was a priority in the talks, underscoring that Europe must defend its "strategic interests" in its economic relations with China.
In an op-ed for the French newspaper Le Figaro, Xi said he wanted to work with the international community to find ways to resolve the conflict sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while emphasising that China was "neither a party nor a participant." "We hope that peace and stability will return quickly to Europe, and intend to work with France and the entire international community to find good paths to resolve the crisis," he wrote.
"More effort is needed to curtail delivery of dual use goods to Russia that find their way to the battlefield," von der Leyen said after talks, adding that "this does affect EU-China relations." She added that France and the EU also "count on China to use all its influence on Russia to end Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine," saying both Europe and China "have a shared in interest in peace and security."
Von der Leyen also said she was "confident" Xi would continue to play an "important role" in de-escalating tensions over nuclear threats made by Russia, hours after President Vladimir Putin ordered nuclear weapons drills involving troops based near Ukraine.
The other two countries chosen by Xi for his tour, Serbia and Hungary, are seen as among the most sympathetic to Moscow in Europe.
Rights groups are urging Macron to bring up human rights in the talks, accusing China of failing to respect the rights of the Uyghur Muslim minority and of keeping dozens of journalists behind bars. "President Macron should make it clear to Xi Jinping that Beijing's crimes against humanity come with consequences for China's relations with France," said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch.
Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders denounced the visit, installing a truck in central Paris with the names of 119 journalists it says are held by China and describing Xi as "one of the great predators of press freedom."
Tuesday will see Macron take Xi, who is accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, to the Pyrenees mountains to an area he used to visit as a boy for a day of less public and more intimate talks. However, analysts are sceptical that Macron will be able to exercise much sway over the Chinese leader, even with the lavish red-carpet welcome and a trip to the bracing mountain air of the Col du Tourmalet, over 2,000 meters above sea level, on Tuesday.