French President Emmanuel Macron begins a three-day state visit to China from Wednesday to strengthen dialogue on Ukraine, trade, China's expanding influence in the Pacific and human rights.
Macron has tried to present a strong European position on China while avoiding moves that could anger Beijing. Analysts say China’s growing assertiveness is putting pressure on trade, security and diplomatic ties.
"He must make clear to China's leadership that Europe will respond to growing economic and security threats from Beijing, while preventing an escalation of tensions that leads to a full-blown trade war and diplomatic breakdown," Noah Barkin, an analyst with Rhodium Group, said.
"This is not an easy message to deliver."
Macron will start his trip with a visit to Beijing’s Forbidden City before meeting with President Xi Jinping on Thursday in the capital and again on Friday during a trip to Chengdu, in south-west Sichuan province.
His visit follows a tense trip by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in July when she said ties between the EU and China were at an “inflection point”. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will visit early next year.
French and European leaders visit China, the 'systemic rival'
Electric vehicles
Trade tensions between China and Europe have risen as cheap Chinese exports in the steel sector in particular, after being shut out of the US market, are hitting European industry.
There is also concern in Europe over China’s growing technological superiority strength in electric vehicles and its dominance in rare earths processing, which could threaten supplies for key European industries.
With Washington’s tariffs squeezing global trade, Beijing is trying to present itself as a business partner and ease European concerns over its backing for Russia and its state-subsidised industrial model.
France, whose carmakers have negligible sales in China but face pressure to succeed with EVs at home, backed a European Commission plan to raise tariffs on Chinese electric car imports.
France was also caught in a dispute with Beijing for more than a year over a Chinese investigation into brandy imports, which was widely seen as retaliation for French support of the EV tariffs, before being offered a respite.
China ends sanctions on EU lawmakers as pressure grows over US trade war
Pacific rivalries
The visit will likely address Taiwan and the South China Sea. China’s top diplomat Wang Yi recently urged France to promote a “positive and rational” EU policy towards China ahead of the trip.
He stressed the “One China principle” under which countries wanting diplomatic ties with Beijing must recognise Taiwan as an inseparable part of mainland China. He also criticised what he called provocative remarks by other countries concerning Taipei.
State-run newspaper the China Daily said the EU “has exaggerated its competition with China in the field of economy and trade and highlighted its differences with China in the geopolitical field”.
The paper quoted Cui Hongjian, a Chinese Europe specialist with Beijing Foreign Studies University, as saying that France and China “will come up with common understanding” that “will not only help stabilise China-France ties and China-EU ties, but also help the parties focus on cooperation to tackle common challenges, instead of viewing each other as challenges”.
France has significant territorial and geopolitical stakes in the Pacific through its overseas territories.
With Beijing building ties with several Pacific island states at the expense of Taiwan and signing a security agreement with the Solomon Islands in 2022, the region is becoming a strategic theatre for competition between China and Western powers.
Human Rights Watch, based in New York, says widespread repression in China remains in place, including mass detention, forced labour and cultural persecution of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, as well as restrictions in Tibet, Hong Kong and against government critics across the country.
(with newswires)
