Shadows are already hanging over Xi Jinping's state visit to France. On May 6 and 7, the Chinese president will be making his first visit to Europe since 2019, following his country's prolonged isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, a few days before Xi's arrival, Emmanuel Macron met Penpa Tsering, the president of the Tibetan government in exile, on the sidelines of a ceremony at the Elysée on April 30.

Earlier in the day, Senator Olivier Cadic revealed that he had been the victim of hacking orchestrated by China and raised the issue during a question session in the Sénat: "This is clearly an act of cyberwar, committed by a 2.0 dictatorship." On Thursday, May 2, Challenges magazine and France 2's "Envoyé Spécial" program broadcast an investigation into an attempt to forcibly repatriate a young Chinese critic of his country's regime living in France, involving members of the Chinese embassy.

In a relationship that is increasingly in favor of Beijing, raising the issue of human rights is difficult for the French president, who does not want to offend his Chinese counterpart. The Chinese, for their part, resist any criticism of what they consider to be their internal affairs. French civil society is therefore striving to highlight this issue on the sidelines of the official visit, which is expected to focus on strategic subjects, including the war in Ukraine, and economic issues, such as Chinese overcapacity and the defensive measures being considered by the European Union. On Sunday, May 5, two demonstrations have been scheduled to condemn the repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and Tibetans.

France has repeatedly underlined its intention to maintain "a demanding and systematic dialogue with China on human rights issues," said the NGO Amnesty International in a press release published on Thursday, May 2. The organization calls on Macron not to forget this commitment during his talks with Xi Jinping. "In particular, the President of the Republic must demand the release of [Uyghur intellectual] Ilham Tohti and other prisoners of conscience, call for an end to the persecution of the hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and Kazakhs still arbitrarily detained in camps, and the repeal of the National Security Law aimed at silencing any dissenting voice in Hong Kong," stated the NGO.

But China is very concerned with appearances and will do anything to silence criticism. Even if it means harassing the families of Chinese living in France who might protest: "A human rights defender based in France informed us that his family living in northern China had been physically harassed by the authorities this week," reported Laura Harth, campaign director of the Safeguard Defenders organization, which documents human rights violations in China. "The big boss is coming, so make sure your son doesn't do anything to embarrass us," the Chinese police reportedly warned. The families of several other people involved in rallies against the Chinese Communist Party in France have reported similar cases, according to Harth.

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