Xi in Paris

Chinese President Xi Jinping on his third visit to France – the first two were in 2014 and 2019 – held trilateral talks in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. While Macron and der Leyen talked about the need for a fair trade balance with China, Xi said that for China Europe was an important part of its foreign policy with Chinese characteristics.

He emphasised that China and Europe should hold strategic talks with each other and they should be partners. Ursula von der Leyen wanted China to use its influence with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, and she also expressed concern about China’s selling dual technology equipment to Russia which ends up on the battlefront against Ukraine. She said that it impacts China’s relations with Europe. Xi said that the longer the Ukrainian war continues, greater will be the loss to Europe. He promised to cooperate with Europe to find a solution to the Ukrainian issue. The more substantial issue between France and China was trade. France is the third largest trade partner with China, but there are tensions and pinpricks in the trade relations. While France is investigating whether China is indulging in dumping cheap products into French markets, China has been imposing higher tariffs on French brandies. According to experts, there would not be a major breakthrough in the trade talks, but the two sides will continue to talk with each other.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the opening of diplomatic relations between France and China. France was one of the early Western powers to have opened up to Communist China, when the rest of Europe was caught in the throes of the Cold War, which was essentially a fight against Communism. The United States opened diplomatic relations in 1972, eight years after France.

France had always forged its own foreign policy, and it did not believe in following the US. So, the mood and temper of Franco-Chinese talks are quite different from that of the Sino-US dialogue, whether it relates to trade or to security. France is much more pragmatic in dealing with China and it does not have the same ideological compulsions that the US displays in its foreign policy.

There is also a difference between the stance of the European Union (EU) and France, which is reflected in the approach of Macron and von der Leyen. Macron is more conciliatory in his approach to China, whlle von der Leyen’s position is quite belligerent. But France is not yielding any ground to the Chinese compared to the Germans. Germans are willing to take a softer stance towards China because of Berlin’s trade compulsions. German vehicles of branded manufacturers like Mercedes depend on the Chinese market, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is not keen to rock the boat as it were. It is evident that Xi does not feel pressured by the European demands for fair trade and in balance of trade. He explained the Chinese point of view in the matter. He said China does not feel that there is overproduction on the part of China. Beijing feels that there is enough global demand for its goods. In many ways, China and Europe cannot do without each other, and both sides are aware of the situation. Xi and his colleagues are prepared for tough trade negotiations, and they are not afraid of dealing with the demands of their European, and even American, trade partners. China is confident that it is negotiating from a position of strength.

Many of the Europeans, like their American counterparts, still have a keen appetite for investing in China, a position not shared by their governments. China too is aware that it is dependent on the Western markets, especially that of Europe, to maintain the momentum of its economic growth.