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China's Xi Jinping Visits Fra 05/06 07:15
PARIS (AP) -- China's President Xi Jinping arrived at the French
presidential palace on Monday for a two-day state visit that is expected to
focus both on trade disputes and diplomatic efforts to convince Beijing to use
its influence to move Russia toward ending the war in Ukraine.
In Paris, Xi first joined a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron
and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meant to address broader
EU concerns. Macron said in his introductory remarks the meeting would first
address trade issues and how to ensure "fair competition," then the wars in
Ukraine and the Middle East.
"We are at a turning point in our history" as the Europe-China relationship
is faced with challenges, Macron said.
The talks are aimed at sharing "both our shared positions and our concerns,
to try to overcome them, because the future of our continent will very clearly
also depend on our ability to develop balanced relations with China," he said.
Macron, a strong advocate of Europe's economic sovereignty, wants to raise
French concerns about a Chinese antidumping investigation into cognac and other
European brandy, and tensions over French cosmetics and other sectors.
In a recent speech, he denounced trade practices of both China and the
United States as shoring up protections and subsidies.
At the start of the meeting in Paris, Xi said "the world today has entered a
new period of turbulence and change."
"As two important forces in the world, China and Europe should ...
continuously make new contributions to world peace and development," he said.
The EU launched an investigation last fall into Chinese subsidies and could
impose tariffs on electric vehicles exported from China.
"The European Union and China want good relations," von der Leyen said. "We
have a substantial EU-China economic relationship. ... But this relationship is
also challenged, for example, through state-induced overcapacity, unequal
market access and overdependencies."
Paris is the first stop on Xi's European trip, seeking to rebuild relations
at a time of global tensions. After France on Monday and Tuesday, he will head
to Serbia and Hungary.
France hopes the discussions will help convince China to use its leverage
with Moscow to "contribute to a resolution of the conflict" in Ukraine,
according to a French presidential official. Russian President Vladimir Putin
recently announced plans to visit China this month.
Macron will press Xi over supplies from Chinese companies supporting the
Russian war effort despite EU sanctions, he said. China claims neutrality in
the Ukraine conflict. France also wants China to maintain a dialogue with Kyiv,
added the official, who was not authorized to be identified according to
presidential policy.
Last year, Macron appealed to Xi to "bring Russia to its senses," but the
call was not followed by any apparent action by Beijing.
"French authorities are pursuing two objectives that are ultimately
contradictory," said Marc Julienne, director of the Center for Asian Studies at
the French Institute of International Relations. "On the one hand, to convince
Xi that it's in his interest to help Europeans to put pressure on Vladimir
Putin to end the war and, on the other hand, to dissuade the Chinese president
from delivering arms to his Russian friend."
"In short, we think that Xi can help us, but at the same time we fear that
he could help Putin," Julienne wrote.
As France prepares to host the Summer Olympics, Macron said he would ask Xi
to use his influence to make the Games "a diplomatic moment of peace."
The discussions will also be closely watched from Washington, a month before
President Joe Biden is expected to pay his own state visit to France.
Xi's visit marks the 60th anniversary of France-China diplomatic relations,
and follows Macron's trip to China in April 2023. Macron prompted controversy
on that trip after he said France wouldn't blindly follow the U.S. in getting
involved in crises that are not its concern, apparently referring to China's
demands for unification with Taiwan.
Several groups -- including International Campaign for Tibet and France's
Human Rights League -- urged Macron to put human rights issues at the heart of
his talks with Xi. Protesters demonstrated in Paris as Xi arrived on Sunday,
calling for a free Tibet.
Amnesty International called on Macron to demand the release of Uyghur
economics professor Ilham Tohti, who was jailed in China for life in 2014 on
charges of promoting separatism, and other imprisoned activists.
On Monday morning, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders staged a protest
in front of the Arc de Triomphe monument to denounce Xi's visit, calling the
Chinese president "one of the greatest predators of press freedom." The group
says 119 journalists are imprisoned in the country.
Macron said in an interview published Sunday that he will raise human rights
concerns.
Later on Monday, a formal ceremony is to take place at the Invalides
monument before bilateral talks at the Elysee presidential palace. Macron and
Xi will conclude a nearby French-Chinese economic forum and then join their
wives for a state dinner.
The second day of the visit is meant to be a more personal moment.
Macron has invited Xi to visit the Tourmalet Pass in the Pyrenees mountains
on Tuesday, where the French leader spent time as a child to see his
grandmother. The trip is meant to be a reciprocal gesture after Xi took Macron
last year to the residence of the governor of Guangdong province, where his
father once lived.
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