Emmanuel Macron is in Canton this Friday, April 7 for the third and last day of his state visit to China. The French president, who on Thursday once again called on China to ” bring Russia to its senses vis-à-vis Ukraine, must meet again with Xi Jinping, his Chinese counterpart. First assessment of this official trip.
from our correspondent in Beijing,
This return of Emmanuel Macron to China is a bit of a half-empty, half-full tea bowl. Half full because it’s finally more than a resumption of contact and more than a ” re-setting of the Franco-Chinese relationship, as the diplomats said before the departure of the delegation. China seeks allies against the United States. She wants to make people forget the zero Covid ice age during which the country found itself completely isolated.
Suddenly, that’s seen, that’s understood: for this third visit to the Empire of a billion and a half, the French president was treated to the red carpet, to The Marseillaiseto the 21 salvoes of the guns of ” politeness ” Or ” welcome guns which make the walls of the People’s Palace tremble when a distinguished guest arrives… Three days is short, but it will still have allowed Emmanuel Macron to talk with Xi Jinping for nearly 7 hours, to to confront his interlocutor with his contradictions on Ukraine and to convey messages.
China remains measured vis-à-vis Russia
Still, after the smiles, we now expect concrete actions on the Chinese side. And there, not sure that voluntarism is enough. Like Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Emmanuel Macron again asked Xi Jinping to call his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. With the same answer each time: I will do it when the conditions will be met “, says the Chinese number one.
Half-empty bowl again: the “good cop, bad cop” tandem with Ursula von der Leyen, and the trilateral meeting with the Chinese president, did not result in a joint declaration. ” Green is the basis of our relationship would have said Prime Minister Li Qiang to the President of the European Commission, but the other files are on the spot. Despite European and French insistence, Beijing has still not condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intention to station tactical nuclear missiles in Belarus.
With President Ursula von der Leyen in Beijing, we have brought together, as Europeans, the same vision.
Reopening the field of possibilities between Europe and China is in our mutual interest. pic.twitter.com/LEbMN4017y
—Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 7, 2023
Finally, press freedom did not emerge strengthened from this trip: for the first time during a French presidential visit to China, French and foreign correspondents here were not authorized to cover the ceremony at the Great People’s Palace. THURSDAY. With a few exceptions, officially due to a lack of space, only the journalists taken with the delegation were able to go tiananmen square.
Canton, a French wink before the return
The choice of Canton for this last day of official travel would be up to the Chinese side. The dinner shared by the two presidents will be served in the residence of the governor of Guangdong, the place where lived the father of Xi Jinping, Xi Zhongxun who carried out the policy of openness of Deng Xiaoping. A region that the wife of the Chinese president also knows well. Singer in the People’s Liberation Army, the latter made many tours there.
Canton is also a little Nice in mirror image. Xi Jinping would have enjoyed his stopover on the Côte d’Azur during his trip to France in 2019. He wanted to offer his guest a similar sequence here, between southern climate and private dinner.
For the economic aspect, Emmanuel Macron should meet Chinese investors at the end of the day. The Guangdong region has a GDP similar to that of countries like Italy or Russia, and many French companies that are in the delegation have been established there for many years. Not to mention the famous Cantonese cuisine and football: an agreement between the Guangzhou Football Association and the FC Sochaux-Montbéliard club was signed in 2019. An air of the South and freedom with Chinese characteristics.
This coastal province has long been considered more emancipated in terms of the press and the unions in particular which, although repressed, make there reason a song different from that of propaganda. This Friday afternoon, before a private meeting with Xi Jinping, Emmanuel Macron is to make a speech at Sun Yat-sen University twinned with Lyon 3 University. This is where the Sino-French school of engineering sponsored by EDF. An intervention followed by an exchange with nearly a thousand students. We’ll see if they dare to address issues like pension reform in France or demonstrations for example.