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Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Paris with EU trade, Ukraine among hot button issues on table
- Accompanying Xi on his first European tour in five years is his wife Peng Liyuan, chief of staff Cai Qi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi
- Thorniest China-EU issues to be on table when Xi meets French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Monday
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Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in France on Sunday to begin a closely watched three-nation tour that will see him try to improve relations with Europe amid intensifying US rivalry, with trade and Ukraine high on the agenda.
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Accompanying Xi on his first European tour in five years is his wife Peng Liyuan, chief of staff Cai Qi, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to a statement from Beijing. The five-day trip will also take Xi to Serbia and Hungary.
The delegation is expected to spend two days in France, with Xi to meet President Emmanuel Macron and the European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in Paris on Monday, ahead of a state dinner.
Macron and von der Leyen, who has been invited by the French president to join the meeting with Xi, are expected to bring up some of the thorniest issues in China-EU relations. This includes the bloc’s long-standing concerns over a nearly €300 billion (US$323 billion) trade deficit and alleged Chinese supplies of dual-use goods to Russia that benefit its military assaults on Ukraine.
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The European Union has stepped up its “de-risking” approach to address economic overdependence on China, and what it calls Beijing’s increasing geopolitical “assertiveness” as relations with the West worsen.
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