Macron concludes visit to China after informal meeting with Xi in Guangzhou

First modification: 04/07/2023 – 15:57

Images from the state channel CCTV showed the greeting between the two leaders and their walk through the gardens of the facilities that hosted the meeting.

The image of the two presidents without ties chatting relaxedly in the garden contrasts with the pomp with which Macron was received this Thursday in Beijing before his formal meeting with Xi, in which they discussed the war in Ukraine.

Hours before the informal meeting with Xi, the content of which the state media have not provided details, the French president visited the Sun Yat-sen University of Canton, where he held a meeting with more than a thousand students, whom he greeted in Mandarin and in the regional language, Cantonese, a fact that caught the attention of many netizens on Chinese social media.

Macron, who will return to France today after a meeting with Chinese investors in Guangzhou, told the students that the war in Ukraine is “a clear violation of international law.”

This is the first time that a French president visits Canton and local media confirm that a large part of the delegation accompanying the president, made up of companies such as Airbus, EDF, Alstom and Veolia, have economic interests in the region, considered the “factory of the world”.

The war in Ukraine, main theme

Macron, who traveled together with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, arrived in China on Wednesday.

During his meeting with Xi on Thursday, the French president told his Chinese counterpart that he “knows” that he has their support “to make Russia see reason and bring all parties to the negotiating table.”

“Russia’s aggression has put an end to decades of peace in Europe,” Macron recalled at a press conference held with Xi in the Chinese capital, in which he expressed his confidence that Beijing would help establish negotiations for a “lasting” peace. that respects internationally recognized borders and avoids any form of escalation”.

Xi, for his part, remarked that “China favors talking about peace”, but limited himself to commenting that, together with France, “we urge the international community to preserve reason and avoid acts that worsen the crisis”.

Hours later, Xi received Von der Leyen, and later held a trilateral meeting with the European official and Macron.

In addition to discussing the war in Ukraine, the French president expressed on Thursday France’s desire to continue, together with China, “the fight against climate change” and work in areas such as “biodiversity, food security and a new partnership finance”, although he expressed his concern about France’s trade deficit with the Asian giant.

As part of Macron’s visit to China, the Chinese authorities have given their go-ahead to formalize an order from the Chinese rental company CASC to the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus for 160 aircraft, 150 of them from the A320 single-aisle family and the remaining 10 of the A350 long-range twin-aisle model, according to the Élysée.

Macron is the second European leader to travel to China -after the Spanish Pedro Sánchez last week- since Xi met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to present his peace proposals for the war in Ukraine and show the solidity of your relationship

with EFE