Who’s who on Xi’s Europe trip: Chinese president accompanied in Macron meeting by top party and ministerial officials

Entourage features senior Chinese diplomats and officials who oversee the country’s economic and trade affairs

China’s Communist Party ideology chief, several ministers, head of customs and its ambassador to France among those in the room during Macron meeting

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, hold talks at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Monday. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 4:08pm, 7 May 2024Updated: 6:27pm, 7 May 2024

Chinese President Xi Jinping is being accompanied by a group of senior diplomats and officials who oversee the country’s economic and trade affairs on his trip to Europe.

The five-day trip to France, Serbia and Hungary is Xi’s first visit to Europe in five years, and his third trip to France since taking office as president in 2013.

Eleven senior Chinese officials were in the room with Xi – including his chief of staff Cai Qi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi – as he met French president Emmanuel Macron on Monday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

01:54

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets French leader Emmanuel Macron at Elysee Palace

These are officials in the president’s entourage during his Europe visit:

Cai Qi

Cai, China’s No 5 official and the ideology chief of the ruling Communist Party, often accompanies Xi on domestic and overseas trips. The 68-year-old is on the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, the party’s highest authority, making him the most powerful chief of staff to the country’s top leader since the time of Mao Zedong.

Wang Yi

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi has been the face of China’s evolving foreign policy since 2013. In 2022, he was promoted to Politburo member and made the party’s foreign affairs chief. However, he was reappointed as foreign minister in July last year, replacing Qin Gang who was suddenly removed just months into the job.

Zheng Shanjie

Zheng has headed the National Development and Reform Commission since last year and has since been included in almost every one of Xi’s entourages, on both domestic and international trips. The commission is responsible for the country’s economic direction, China’s energy and climate policies, as well as the Belt and Road Initiative – Xi’s signature project.

Wang Wentao

As China’s Minister of Commerce since December 2020, Wang has been at the core of Beijing’s efforts to iron out trade disputes with the European Union, including those relating to China’s sales of EVs.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron watch the march-past in Paris during Xi’s visit on Monday. Photo: Xinhua

Lan Foan

China’s Minister of Finance since 2023 is China’s point person for dealing with the financial chiefs of foreign governments. He was among officials who met US Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen in China in April.

Lu Shaye

Lu has been China’s ambassador to France since 2019 and has been seen as one of the country’s leading Wolf Warrior diplomats. Last year, in an interview with French television, he triggered a diplomatic crisis after he questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet republics.

Yu Jianhua

Yu is head of the General Administration of Customs. Previously, he has served as deputy commerce minister and the representative for international trade negotiations.

Jiang Jinquan

Jiang heads the Central Policy Research Office, a party think tank which studies and drafts national policies for China’s top leadership. Jiang is one of the few Chinese officials who attend almost all Xi’s domestic and international trips.

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Hua Chunying

Hua was seen in the room on Monday and was observed taking a back seat during an earlier meeting between Xi, Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Hua has been head of the press department of China’s foreign ministry since 2019. In 2021, she was promoted to the rank of assistant foreign minister and retains her role in the press office.

Lu Luhua

As secretary to President Xi, Lu was seen in the back of the room of the Xi-Macron meeting. A former diplomat with the policy planning department of the foreign ministry, Lu has regularly been seen in Xi’s meeting with foreign heads of states. He was seated in the front row during Xi’s meeting with US President Joe Biden in San Francisco in November.

Deng Li

Seated at the end of the table is Deng, who has been a vice-foreign minister since late 2021. A French-speaking diplomat, he was promoted to be in charge of European and African affairs. Previously, he served as the deputy head of the foreign ministry’s department of European affairs and was China’s ambassador to Turkey.