Why European leaders are divided over the Chinese president’s visit | DW News

Why European leaders are divided over the Chinese president’s visit | DW News

Chinese president xiin pings arrived in France kicking off his first trip to the EU since 2019 she is due to meet with French president Emmanuel macron on Monday later in the week the Chinese president will continue on to Serbia and Hungary the two countries that are seen as closer to Beijing EU leaders are divided over how to deal with China amid its growing Global influence and economic might the Eiffel Tower is the same but China relationship with the West has changed since yinping last visited Europe in 2019 the covid pandemic beijing’s backing for Russia’s Ukraine war its growing authoritarianism trade tensions over electric vehicle subsidies and suspicions of widescale Chinese Espionage in European capitals have complicated relations this visit is the first by China’s head of state to Europe in the past 5 years it is of great significance to promoting China’s relations with France Serbia Hungary and the overall development of the China Europe relationship China’s economic muscle and growing Global influence have left Europe divided on how to deal with Beijing she will be happy to exploit those divisions as the continent struggles to Define its role between the United States and China in Paris X and Francis emanu macron will talk over trade and investment and the Middle East macron aims to drum up business for French firms and convince she not to get further involved in Russia’s war in Ukraine France sees she’s visit which officially marks 60 years of French Chinese diplomatic relations as an important diplomatic moment and wants to focus on China’s broader relations with the EU macron has invited European commission president Ursula fion to the talks after France she will head to Serbia for talks with president President Alexander vukic an authoritarian strongman and Ally of Russia’s Vladimir Putin she’s last stop is Hungary to meet with prime minister vikor Orban Hungary wants to deepen diplomatic and trade ties with autocracies such as Russia and China this sits uneasily with its EU and NATO membership Vladimir Putin casts a long Shadow over the visit she and Putin describe their relationship as Without Limits by visiting like-minded Hungary and Serbia China is testing The eu’s Balancing Act between Beijing and Brussels Kelly greo is a senior fellow at the think tank Stimson Center in Washington DC I asked how what the Chinese president aims to achieve during his visit to Europe I would say the main goal here is really damage control uh you know as a result of the war in Ukraine as well as rising trade disputes China’s the European view of China has really taken a hit um and this is really an attempt for him to come there the first time in five years and try to reset relations and put them perhaps back more on a more pragmatic Cooperative setting but looking at the different European countries are they all sort of unified in terms of their stance um towards China no not at all and this I think is very much reflected um you know you can see the differences in the language for for example Great Britain uses versus Germany um or you know certainly Serbia or Hungary um you know I don’t think it’s an accident the three countries that he’s visiting uh including France um that to varying degrees France Serbia Hungary um agree in some to some degree with um the Chinese about the need for it not to just be a US versus China Choice um that countries can navigate a Third Way um you know this is certainly with the French this applies to their sort of GIS leanings um and talking about strategic autonomy and strategic sovereignty and so I think he’s trying in this visit to remind Europe that there is another path um one that actually has significant economic opportunities which I’m sure will be highlighted when he visits Serbia and Hungary and of course first is meeting Emmanuel macron France can macron get uh Xi Jinping to use his influence over Russia to bring an end to the war in Ukraine yes I think this is certainly one of the things that will be discussed during their talks and the French I would say among um European leaders um macron is the one who believes the most strongly it seems that Beijing does have some leverage to help move uh Russia towards NE a negotiating table I don’t expect to actually see much progress made on this issue at the moment in part uh because I think the Russians are still believe they can win militarily on the battlefield uh so I think it it will be hard for the Chinese to make a lot of movement the issue I would look at to see if we have progress is that there’s supposed to be a Ukrainian uh peace conference in Switzerland um in mid June and the Chinese have been non-committal about attending that the Russians are will not be there and if we see any evidence that the Chinese might send some kind of Delegation to that even if it’s low-level that would be a positive development and we’ve talked about the different the the three countries um shenping is going to France Serbia and hung age but Brussels is not on the agenda can we read much into that yes I think that’s interesting I mean we do know that the European commission president um will be attending some of the talks uh with um macron um representing the European Union there and so I think this is you know the Russians sorry Chinese tend to prefer bilateral relationships um and pursuing bilateral diplomacy and so I think to a large extent that’s what’s reflected here and and opting to meet with uh heads of state of various countries and not the European Union itself okay we’ll have to leave it there Kelly Greco senior fellow with the reimagining US Grand strategy program at the Stimson Center thank you very much for speaking to us thank you let’s bring in our correspondent James Cher in Taiwan hi James the Chinese president will meet Emmanuel macron uh today in Paris what should we expect from these talks well first just to emphasize what a different environment we’re in now after that last visit of xiin ping to Europe in 2019 in that 5 years we’ve had a global pandemic we’ve had serious challenges to China’s economy a much more fractious geopolitical environment and of course Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for France’s uh perspective this is something that macron is likely to bring up beijing’s tcid support of Moscow during its ongoing invasion of Ukraine for many people propping up the Russian economy despite those International sanctions but there’s really a much broader remit when it comes to those negotiations between Paris and Beijing focusing also on trade disputes uh Paris has been uh behind and backing an EU probe into uh Chinese electric vehicle Imports into the EU for example but there’s also been um discussion about potentially macron raising uh an investigation into French Brandy Imports into China viewed by many as a kind of tit fortat investigation um now when it comes to the perspective of China um we’re expecting Beijing really to look to um for many people drive a wedge between the US and Europe when it comes to their approach to Beijing macron has long signal that he wants to have a more autonomous approach to Beijing one that doesn’t simply follow the perspective um of the US and he simply doesn’t want to kind of mirror that approach and we can see that in the kind of warmer uh reception that macron is likely to give Xi Jinping for example taking shei to the Pines the location of the birthplace of his maternal grandmother tomorrow so we’re going to see that kind of disunity that that that that questioning really over how the EU should deal with China even in how macron is dealing with XI jining right and how is this visit being seen in Taiwan I mean especially since France has distance itself from the US position on the Taiwan issue yeah well that really all stemmed from an interview given by macron about a year ago uh with Politico following a visit to Beijing in that interview he again reiterated this position that’s become quite a common refrain of his now that uh Europe shouldn’t simply uh kind of blindly follow the US and its more Hardline approach to China and when it comes to Taiwan specifically he said that Europe shouldn’t quote enter into crises that are not uh of its own essentially and so um when it comes to the question of Taiwan um if it indeed comes up in these negotiations remember that’s not a um a done deal we I think from the perspective of taipe are expecting or at least hoping that uh that macron will reiterate the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan street but remember there is such a broad agenda to deal with here for for France again across trade across geopolitical concerns in Europe um that that type A I think is not really expecting the to move much when it comes to the question of Taipei now when it comes to those other countries that Xi Jinping is visiting Hungary and Serbia again we’re not really expecting anything to come of those these countries have been much more um closely aligned uh with uh Beijing on its geopolitical positions Hungary of course long the thorn in Brussels side uh when it comes to that more unanimous uh approach to Beijing and that’s why we’ve we’ve seen xiin ping select these countries um for this first visit to Europe in 5 years really trying to um illuminate and illustrate that there is disunity in Europe when it comes to approaching China all right DW’s James Cher in taipe thank you

Xi Jinping has arrived in Paris for his first trip to Europe in five years. Trade tensions, China’s relations with Russia and Ukraine and the Middle East are expected to dominate the agenda. By including Russia’s allies Hungary and Serbia on his agenda, Xi is sending a clear message that could divide Western allies.
0:00 Intro
2:47 Kelly Grieco, Senior Fellow Stimson Centre, Washington D.C.
6:17 DW correspondent James Chater, Taiwan

#china #xijinping #europe
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