After the state dinner at the Élysée on May 6, Emmanuel Macron took Xi Jinping to the Pyrenees for a getaway. personal » supposed to allow a more direct dialogue around the war in Ukraine or on trade disagreements.
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Xi Jinping, Emmanuel Macron and their wives are, this May 7, visiting the Col du Tourmalet, in the Hautes-Pyrénées (southwest of France), where the maternal grandparents of the French head of state lived. A way of provoking moments of less formal exchanges with the Chinese leader, but also of returning the favor after the intimate stopover organized during the French president’s trip to China last year.
“ In April 2023explains to Vincent Souriau the sinologist Emmanuel Lincot, professor at the Catholic Institute of Paris and associated researcher at Iris, Xi Jinping had invited Emmanuel Macron to Canton, the same place where his own father had been responsible for the party for the region. So, it was both a somewhat intimate intention addressed to the French head of state, he had also welcomed him with musical notes from an ancient repertoire. The Chinese have talked a lot about this symbolism. »
“ Build some kind of strong relationship »
“ So in Francecontinues Emmanuel Lincot, the two men will honor the manes of Emmanuel Macron’s grandmother. It’s charming, but indeed, one might ask the question, what’s the point? That being said, it is not so original, because Jacques Chirac also did the same by welcoming Jiang Zemin at the end of the 90s in Vendée. »
“ It’s a way to actually build some sort of strong relationship. But no one is fooled. The proof is that in mid-May, Xi Jinping will receive Vladimir Putin in the Chinese capital. So I very much doubt, at least on the Ukrainian issue, that we will move forward in any way », concludes the sinologist.
This corner of the mountain, specifies the AFP, is therefore, explains those around him, “ directly linked to the very personal story » by Emmanuel Macron. The one who will celebrate the seven years of his first election on Tuesday, spent many holidays between the town of Bagnères-de-Bigorre and La Mongie with his grandparents to whom he was very attached. Emmanuel Macron and Xi Jinping, accompanied by their wives, will have lunch this May 7 in the mountain restaurant of Éric Abadie, breeder and friend of the president.
Read alsoXi Jinping in France: what to remember from the first day of the Chinese president’s state visit