This week, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Europe for the first time in five years, stopping in France, Serbia and Hungary.
Xi’s trip comes amid tensions with many European countries over China’s support for Russia over its war in Ukraine, its trade practices and its apparent problems. espionage.This trip will also test Europe a delicate balancing act between China and the United States.
Xi Jinping hopes to head off a trade war with the European Union as friction intensifies over China’s electric vehicle exports and European companies lose market access in China. Xi will also encourage French President Emmanuel Macron to seek greater autonomy from the United States to reduce Washington’s global dominance.
Here’s what we know about Xi Jinping’s visit, which begins Sunday.
What is the significance of Xi Jinping’s trip?
The three countries that President Xi is about to visit: experts say, supporting China’s push to redefine the global order to varying degrees.All question the American postwar world order to some extent, and Desire to strengthen connections with Beijing.
Hungary has close relations with China and is keen to attract Chinese investment in the following areas: electronic car and Battery As Chinese producers expand manufacturing outside of Asia. Same goes for Serbia, It has close ties with Beijing and has received billions of dollars in Chinese investment.
Xi’s first stop will be France, where Macron recently said Europe “must not become a vassal of the United States” and saw France as a bridge between the “Southern Hemisphere” and Western powers.
Despite Macron’s overtures to Beijing, he said he remained closer to his ally the United States than to China.
“I would rather choose a relationship with the United States, with China, than have one of the two parties impose on me, either pushing me in one direction or pulling me in another direction,” he said at the an interview In partnership with The Economist magazine. But, he added. “Obviously, we are not equal distances. We are allies of the American people.”
Before Xi Jinping’s visit to China, Chinese diplomats expressed hope that France-China relations will develop will be at the forefront of relations between China and the West.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, will on Monday Attended talks with Xi Jinping and Macron in Paris.
This year is also a symbolic year for China and the three countries.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France and the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Hungary.
This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, during the Kosovo War, which killed three Chinese journalists and sparked angry protests at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Chinese authorities continue to view the bombing as a sign of NATO aggression and an example of Russia having reason to feel threatened before deciding to invade Ukraine.
When was the last time Xi Jinping visited Europe?
Xi Jinping, who last visited Europe in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic, spent time in China before leaving the country’s borders for the first time in 2019. Fall 2022.
2019 trips include gorgeous ceremony in Rome to celebrate Italy’s participation in China’s “Belt and Road” global infrastructure project, which aims to expand China’s overseas influence.France Roll out the red carpet Macron signed more than a dozen commercial and government treaties worth billions of euros in Paris, despite warnings that “China exploits our differences” and that “Europe’s period of naivety is over”.
Mr. Xi also visited greecewho pledged support for the country’s fight against the British to obtain the statue known as the “Parthenon” Elgin Marbles.
What is the relationship between Europe and China?
Since Xi Jinping’s last visit, the rift between China and much of Europe has widened.this coronavirus pandemicBeijing’s embrace of Russia and its crackdown on ethnic minorities, as well as a surge in Chinese exports, have prompted a backlash against China in many European countries.
China has Car shipments increase fivefold In recent years, the EU has adopted a more confrontational approach to China’s trade practices.EU authorities have launched an investigation into possible restrictions on Chinese solar exports and have Take preliminary measures to restrict Trade with Chinese goods includes electric vehicles, wind turbines and medical equipment.
Italy has also told China it will no longer participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, and last month six people in Europe were accused of spying for China in a week, in a sign that European countries are intensifying their response. Espionage against China.
Meanwhile, European countries have different views on how to engage with Beijing and benefit from economic opportunities there, with some worried about imposing European tariffs.
Mr. Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz China’s influence is also seen as critical to ending the war in Ukraine.
David Pearson in Hong Kong and Aurelien Breeden Reporting from Paris also contributed.
