BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron affirmed a commitment to cooperation on global challenges and trade during meetings in Beijing on Thursday, despite ongoing trade disputes and differing geopolitical views. The visit, Macron’s first to China this year, comes as both nations navigate economic headwinds and seek to balance partnership with competition.
France recorded a $348 billion trade deficit last year, with China accounting for 46% of that shortfall. While the European Union and France categorize China as a partner, competitor, and systemic rival, both leaders signaled a desire to strengthen economic ties. Recent friction includes EU investigations into Chinese electric vehicle subsidies, prompting retaliatory Chinese investigations into European brandy, pork, and dairy products – though France secured an exemption for most cognac producers in July.
Xi stated that “china’s open door will only open wider,” outlining plans to “expand market access, and opening up areas” of investment and “guide the cross-border, orderly, and rational layout of industrial and supply chains.” He also called for continued mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the EU.
Experts suggest Beijing aims to bolster individual relationships with key European economies like france, potentially at the expense of a unified EU approach.Lyle Morris, a senior fellow at the Asia Society, explained, “China seeks to drive a wedge into this EU approach by making deals bilaterally with individual EU members.”
Macron, accompanied by his wife Brigitte, arrived in Beijing on wednesday evening and was formally greeted Thursday morning with a military band and children waving flags at the Great Hall of the Peopel. The leaders attended the closing of a franco-Chinese business forum and Macron is scheduled to meet with Zhao Leji,chairman of the National People’s Congress,and Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
The French presidential couple will also travel to Chengdu in Sichuan province, where yuan Meng, the first giant panda born in France and named by Brigitte Macron, currently resides. France recently returned a pair of pandas who lived in the country for 13 years, along with their three cubs, to China.