Red carpet diplomacy: What’s Macron message for China’s Xi? • FRANCE 24 English

Red carpet diplomacy: What’s Macron message for China’s Xi? • FRANCE 24 English

can you still send strong messages when you’ve rolled out the red carpet and chilled the champagne for a state dinner China’s xiin ping fed it in the French capital for his first visit to Europe since 2019 this despite trade tensions spy scandals the insistence that he isolate Vladimir Putin over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine how much has changed since one year ago even when Emanuel mcon was accused of lack messaging on human rights and Taiwan when he traveled to Beijing the last time mechol hosted shei he invited the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel to join the talks alongside the European commission present this time Ursa underl in Paris but no Olaf Schultz will ask why and whether that strengthens or weakens the bargaining position of France and the European Union and then of course there are the messages xiin ping wants to convey particularly with his itinerary after France the Chinese president travels to Hungary whose lenient stands towards beijing’s been rewarded with a big electric vehicle Factory deal and Serbia for the 25th anniversary of NATO’s mistaken bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during the war in Kosovo now is this all part of the hard bargaining or a signal that China is ready to take on all comers today in the France 24 debate we’re talking about mol’s message for Xi Jinping joining us is senior journalist for State television broadcasters cgtn Wang Guan also fellow at the Beijing based T Institute think TCH did I pronounce that right very good very good okay ta fantastic okay first trip to Paris you say first time in France all right well welcome welcome and uh we’ll be talking about what’s on the agenda while in France uh as well with Centrist friend Senator Olivier kadik thanks for being with us welcome uh Juliana bush is research analyst at the rodium group policy and business consultancy is it a consultancy or Think Tank how would you research provider a research provider thank you so much for being with us entrepreneur and commentator yakob hestler is with us as well how are you very well your reactions on the hash f24 debate is how the world has changed since xiin Ping’s last trip to France what with has been since what the covid pandemic war in Ukraine a subsidy race as the planet pivot pivots away from fossil fuels Jenny shin has a look it’s the first stop on Chi jinping’s Europe trip seeking to rebuild relations at a time of beijing’s tensions with the block welcomed by French president Emanuel macron and joined by EU commission Chief Ursa felion the Chinese president emphasized the importance of strategic partnership between his country and the EU as two important forces in the world China and the EU should remain Partners adhere to dialogue and cooperation deepen strategic communic communication enhance strategic Mutual trust build strategic consensus and Carry Out strategic coordination so as to promote the steady and sound development of China EU relations and make constantly new contributions to world peace and development the Hot Topic of the trilateral meeting security and the war in Ukraine the two EU leaders pressed she to use China’s influence to steer Russia towards DS escalation and an eventual halt to its Invasion this just hours after President Vladimir Putin ordered nuclear weapon drills in response to what he called threats from the West we count on China to use all its influence on Russia to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine president shei has played an important role in deescalate Russia’s irresponsible nuclear threats and I’m confident that President she will continue to do so we’ve also discussed China’s commitment not to provide any lethal equipment to Russia another top priority in the talks the eu’s trade deficit with China which stood at € 291 billion EUR last year pressuring she to accept Fair global trade rules felion said the block would not back down from taking tough measures to protect its economy some member countries refuse TI fortat measures as China is a key economic partner among them are Serbia and Hungary the two other countries president she is due to visit after France Jakob hler it was just a few weeks ago the German Chancellor was in China we just had uh statements read to the Press there were no questions taken from reporters um is this any different the tone being used by the French President here in Paris as was done with the German Chancellor in Beijing well I think that’s because the two countries may not want exactly the same thing and there is a difference in tone you’re saying I think there’s a difference in tone but that’s because there’s a difference in what they want and I think that that’s because and that’s why I think this visit important because we’re going to play off individual countries interest versus Unity of Europe versus what macron has called autonomy of Europe Visa both China and the US and I think Germany is more compromising on the EV St that’s why Ula feline was there and not Schultz because he would would have blurred the message that the underlying message I think that maau wanted to send which is we are ple we don’t want a trade War but we need concessions on EVS whereas the Germans would have been probably more lenient or have been more lenient given how Schulz reacted to during his visit okay but um we heard in that statement the French president say the European Union is an open market we are sovereign our policies are not governed by any outside power effectively telling his host who’s sitting next to him uh that uh we’re not the United States does that blur the lines just as much as what yakob described with the German Chancellor a few weeks ago um EU is U we say um it’s United uh with diversity we may have a different approach uh it comes from very far and um when we look at uh Germany with their strategy they were dependent on Russia with on energy field they are dependent on uh uh China for their industry and they are dependent on us with their army with their defense um we have a different approach and uh is it that different because we heard him say thank you for helping with the opening of this year um electric battery Factory in the north of France there was a long list of all the 18 deals that have been struck and Taiwan invested more just with one deal than China so why is Emanuel M during 20 years reading off this laundry list of all the different economic areas in which there’s an agreement the the question here is we have different issues uh first of all we understand the strategy of Mr kishin ping to try to uh to to create difficult time within EU it’s not the first time he did it uh in a different time so um EU had to react to uh in fact to the uh to the deficit uh with the trade uh we have to to fix some uh big issues there but we have also geopolitical issues and we understand that uh China want also to create a a difference between us and EU so um he tries to play a different game what Emanuel macron has uh in mind is to try also to to explain that too much support to Russia is hurting directly EU and um it’s um it’s very clear our position is really clear and um now kishin ping will go after to Hungary to Serbia Serbia is a wish to come to join EU kishin ping will say certainly to Mr V vuich the president of Serbia look China can help you better more than uh EU because it takes time for you to go to EU we understand that um we have to to see what xinping wants to achieve but within EU uh we will have European elections and I’m sure uh the with the new Parliament they will have to face um answers to give to China but um I don’t think we will come back to the situation we were when it was Angela mercur time Wan uh so you have uh it’s true that after France going to Hungary and Serbia probably some of the most pro-russia countries on this continent that sends a message well first of all I want to respond to what the senator has just mentioned uh alluding to the fact that China be driving a wedge between the EU and America um I don’t look it that way I mean uh France for example had its own strategic autonomy since very early days when you think about General Charles deal decided um almost single-handedly to recognize People’s Republic not the dissident minority regime that is closely associated with Washington back then as the only government of China that was a boat decision and that was at the height of the Cold War and that was a French decision of course so we’ve been seeing hence the reason for the state visit it’s the 60th anniversary to memorialize and celebrate this friendship that is really um you know Grassroots driven that is multifaceted if you think about trade education how many French students studying Chinese here and vice versa commercial bonds uh we’re not trying to really drive a wedge between the US and EU there are differences which we readily recognize between the two sides which we respect and we want to be strong partners with all count countries when it came to Ukraine uh so both sides of uh calling for an Olympic truce that’s pretty easy for uh throughout the planet H and we heard Xi Jinping use the standard language which is calling what was going on in Ukraine a crisis of course it’s not a crisis it’s a war why doesn’t he just say it’s a war for we need to look at the historical context of what happened uh you know China of course has been blamed for having this ambiguous attitudes on the issue of Ukraine but China has been very clear it’s just like the you’ve got to look at the yin and the Yen um you’ve got to take consideration take note of all sides considerations uh NATO expanded some seven times in uh light of the fall of the former Soviet Union uh is it absolutely necessary was it necessary and of course what’s going on in Ukraine is unacceptable president she sent his top Envoy to the region doing Shadow diplomacy uh we traded with Ukraine very well uh trade between China and the Ukraine so why not call it a war for what it is it’s a war well what happened was a war and China did not condone Wars right um be it in Russia be it in Ukraine be it in former Yugoslavia um you know when NATO bombed our embassies or be it in the United States um you know those Wars launched by the us against Central American states with how as it is but we’re saying that there are historical contacts and there concerns by Russia and there are grievances by Ukraine Juliana Bush when it comes to the Ukraine question um is this going to move the needle at all this visit by Xi Jinping to Paris especially when he’s going next to Hungary and to Serbia yes exactly I don’t think so unfortunately uh as you mentioned quite rightly the language used is still that of Crisis rather than War so I don’t think we’re going to see any real meaningful commitment by S ping on uh the Russia question I think when we look at the sort of two main goals of this visit uh From mol’s perspective the first one was to get uh China to sort of curtail its support to uh the Russian war effort and secondly to get China to make some meaningful commitment on the trade and more globally the economic security question I think those are the two areas where China is going to be reticent to actually make uh any concessions reticent to make a concessions we’re reading nuclear threats Wang Guan out of Moscow uh just uh today saying they’re going to have uh used tactical nuclear weapons in military drills will Beijing just stay out of it or will there be some quiet diplomacy on that you think well president XI has been talking with um President Putin over many occasions and China has really been advocating for peace and uh I think what mosow has uh Illustrated is deterrence you know I don’t think Russia will go that far by using those nuclear weapons but uh I think America our American friends in Washington knows a thing or two about deterrence actually know it the best in that uh you’ve got to have nuclear weapons um and their weapon stockpile might be so strong that you don’t have to use it but but I think I think there’s one one issue I think when we look at this debate which I think we need to take a step back which is we can now enter into the values debate whether or not but I think let if we take a step back and go to the level of what I would say the diplomacy or the interests of State I think there is a and I think you mentioned it it’s very clear the more Russ the more the conflict or the war the however you may want to call it between Russia and Ukraine persists the more Europeans will feel the need for NATO to protect them and that inevitably means that the Strategic alignment of Europe and the US is cemented rather than loosened right now the US is growing drawing closer to Europe yeah exactly and the more you push so the more you support Russia or the longer the conflict lasts whether you support or not the longer it lasts the more Europe will feel its need to be closely aligned with us and that counters another major idea which is I think of objective of the nonwestern powers which is to say to redo the global system in a slightly different way which is which we as Western countries may not like because it’s not the system we’ve imagined but it’s very clear that that’s at the moment happening and so I think it’s all about the leverage between how much support there what do the Europeans want more and how autonomous can the Europeans be whether then the visit in Hungary or Serbia I would say to me is more symbolic it’s not so much at the heart of the debate I think that we have had here today Jakob hesler talking about how it’s competing values as well as competing economic interests how to defend those competing value systems while continuing to do business kind of an Old Chestnut whenever we have discussions over over China a main stay of any Chinese president’s visit is the subject of how to Broach human rights as evidenced by this Banner unfilled by activists on Sunday for motorists on paris’s boulevar peripheric Ring Road uh free Tibet it says last week the president in Exile of Tibet crossed paths with Emanuel McAn a leader of Honor metal decoration ceremony at the presidential Palace penat sering had been invited by the former French Senator uh being honored uh before I ask you about your specific case Olivier kadik is this just a coincidence so uh did did maon get ambushed or was this something planned by the by the presidential Palace uh not at all the president knew that and uh also franu Wu who is ambassador of Taiwan in France and who’s just now nominated as Vice Minister for foreign Affair in Taiwan uh as he announced that on the French TV yesterday evening uh we knew that uh and the president knew that I think it’s important uh to show that uh uh we have reality uh some people try to hide the reality but there is a reality in t in Tibet there is a reality in singan with weos um and there is a reality in Hong Kong at the moment so is emu M’s messaging right should he be saying publicly talking about the weor talking about Tibet talking about Taiwan when he’s sitting next to Xi Jinping again at this format where there’s no questions from the press or do it the way he did it which is I’ll see the others before and after but not during the visit yeah I I think it uh it made sense uh to to do this uh this way uh France uh is a free and independent country so I think the prison can meet who he want should he should he should he broach the subject himself should it come from him uh he knew that uh he had to give the legion donor to Andre gatan and Andre invited the guest and I remember I saw the the information about the meeting where he got a picture with when Mr when the president was was with Dal Lama before to become president I think it was a important discussion but uh the French president put the value of democracy uh higher than the state uh reason do you agree with that Juliana bush is that did did Emanuel mcon use the right messaging yes absolutely I think um what’s interesting is um when we compare it for example to the Schultz visits a few weeks ago I think Germany was willing to make a lot more concessions on some of the symbolism they sense yeah but that’s because he went to China if you Emanuel mcon a year ago when he was in China sort of equivocated over what would happen if there was war with Taiwan remember this is true this is true but within a year we’ve seen quite a change I think in well actually rather within the last six months we’ve seen quite a change in mcon stance in a way uh you know willing to be a little bit more Brazen in how he counters China’s lines and interests uh like receiving the uh Tibetan Envoy um similarly right now France is taking part in the batan exercises uh joining the Navies of the US and Philippines which is an extremely sore point for China so I think this is a shift uh in macon’s stance towards China and of course inviting funer today uh to counter China more forcefully on economic practices is again uh showing a firmer stance vadik um there’s your personal case because you H H there were uh some lawmakers 116 of them from 15 Nations including France seven of them French including you you got a phone call from the FBI saying that you’d been hacked uh I’m member of the IAC the inter parliamentarian um Alliance about China and uh we were all targeted uh in 2021 um because uh an accusation was made by the Minister of Justice end of March we learned that we were attacked uh we had a what does that mean attacked uh we received um we were all targeted in a cyber cyber attack we we all received a an email with a virus inside to collect some information and it was a progressive attack uh the FBI did the uh the inquiry uh during two years time and then uh a legal action was started by the Minister of Justice we learn uh in fact from the FB di ipac knew that the members were attacked my name was given and they asked if I was uh in the list and FBI answered yes uh the issue we have is that FBI informed our service two years ago uh and I’m uh in charge of the cyber security and cyber defense in the French Senate so uh we had a lot of issue but the reason why I was not informed we were not informed as a as a members of the parliament but this is a why weren’t sorry why weren’t you I don’t know yet but we will start our own process in Senate so I announced that during the press conference today uh this is an act of war against us an act of War it’s an act of War an act of cyber War it’s an act of War uh it’s really clear if you look at the definition of an act of war and um this is not uh the first time uh we face that because when we look at the Red Carpet but Bey the carpet uh the history is not the same uh so we uh we face now Massive Attack on on Cyber um we have to do our own process we will go to the government we will try to understand we will have to listen to the services to understand why I was not informed I’m in charge uh to every every year I um I receive uh French Ani and sgsn and the about the situation on Cyber uh it’s very it’s a big surprise I was not uh informed we don’t we will not give the present to uh Mr C about why are you and why are you so short with China just to be clear on this uh because it’s from uh it’s documented uh from AP 31 Group which is connected to uh to China to uh to the the intelligence of China and uh so uh during two years uh in fact we already had information in 20 21 about AP 31 but we didn’t know we were targeted but now the question is how we will react uh because the big issue is how we will react um we have to this is for sure uh and we have to prepare that properly but it has to be massive what does that mean massive it has we have to uh to look at the way we were attacked um we see uh Chinese cyber wall and be this Chinese cyber wall they send their attack they their capacity is huge bigger than our capacity and uh we um we don’t use the same tool because the Democracy does not allow us to use some tools uh so we have to look at the the way it works and we have to review our strategy we have to review the way we react uh it has to be done together Europe us Australia New Zealand Canada all the targeted countries we have to think together and it will be done during the Paris cyber Summit it will be on 4th of June I will announce on that day a new strategy we have to develop in order to respond such attacks one Guan uh it’s not a fair fight because of the fact that we countryes spy on each other that’s what uh it’s always happened but it’s not a fair fight because it’s not the same value system says the senator um that we’re more open than they are in China and other authoritarian countries from so I used to live in the United States for eight years which claims itself as the the freest um country in the world the leader of the Free World but guess what Edward Snowden and all those prism schemes and all those schemes that spied on the likes of Angela Merkel uh the great leader of Germany and Europe for many years her personal cell phones and of course countless programs on Tina University China Telecom which are both civilian educational and corporate institutions so um really I mean America has been the leader on spying the world that said um I’m sorry about what um um what’s been described um I would be for all those who um going through such circumstances I mean there are differences between China and the France and I think uh the beauty of a summit such as that one is the Chinese leader and the French leader can talk through and manage those differences we saw yakob Hessler that um there’s a couple of spy scandals that have broken out in Germany and they broke out just after Olaf Schultz had been to China we don’t know and I think we must accept that some of the things we don’t know I think the much bigger spy scandals in Germany involved the payment of cash to parliaments for European election candidates from the extreme right from the IFD that to me I think there’s a there’s a line between wanting to know which obviously we have to do everything we can have the right strategy to to defend basically to make sure that you know nobody spies on us at least successfully they we always will they always will I think it’s it’s that’s how the world works the other thing which is to use an influence election pay money to candidates support candidates that’s a whole different that’s a very different story I in in my personal View and and and I think that’s where so far we have seen more activity I think from Russia I don’t recall but that’s because I’m not an expert in the field but I have not recalled China directly influencing any sort of politicians by paying money or making making use of Direct Tools but maybe I’m wrong jul bu is is is that correct I mean but there is a difference between China and Russia on this I’m not sure there is I mean I’m not willing to comment on whether there is a difference on China and Russia on this because I’m not familiar with the specifics but uh on the Spy Scandal I mean it’s not just something that concerns Germany but it’s something that was uh more widespread last week there were arrests that occurred in Germany yes but also in the UK and in Brussels uh regarding a German parliamentary assistant and I think it just points to you know a growing concern with within Europe over potential political interference by China and I think what’s really interesting is sort of the timing of uh all of those arrests they all occurred within a week and within that same week we also saw the EU take really quite a number of actions against uh Chinese companies or Chinese practices so uh I’m talking about uh for example competition commissioner margara vestager who was in uh the US delivering a speech in which she announced uh a new round of uh foreign subsidies investigation into Chinese wind turbine suppliers then the EU made its first use of its International procurement instrument to Target the Chinese medical sector’s devices following that we saw a dawn raid on NCH which is a Chinese equipment uh security equipment firm um all of that points to the fact that different parts of the commission because all of these instruments are actually from different sort of uh directorate generals of the of the commission are getting very active on China and a bit more confrontational and uh I think that’s sort of what’s interesting is the timing of that and so if we follow yakob lesser’s U hler logic at the outset of this conversation about how uh Olaf Schultz can play good cop for the German business Industries while uh the country’s Former Defense Minister who’s vying for a second term as president of the European commission plays bad cop the EU could announce tariffs on Chinese Imports in the coming weeks URS of underline in Paris this Monday in that three-way sit down with the presidents of China and France the world cannot absorb China’s Surplus production therefore I have encouraged the Chinese government to address these structural overc capacities at the same time we will closely coordinate with G7 countries and Emer in economies that are also increasingly affected by China’s market distortions so uh a useful bad guy you agree with what yakob said earlier and and what’s your reaction when you heard the Chinese president say that it’s a fiction this idea of an overc capacity on the part of China I mean I think the overc capacity question is extremely complicated uh from a you know Economist perspective because it doesn’t have a precise definition so both sides will always perhaps be talking past each other I think the Chinese side will always point to the fact that um you know they’re a export-led economy and there’s nothing wrong with that because Germany is an export-led economy and no one is sort of threatening Germany with the same measures uh similarly you know their um leadership in certain clean tech sectors is just the result of uh you know comparative advantage rather than subsidization and the they’re putting you you know affordable clean tech products out there and so they’re fighting deflationary press inflationary pressures and allowing a just and affordable graen transition whereas for Europe the question is a little bit different and also existential it’s a question of whether you know production uh is going to be displaced and it ties into broader question over like Mass employment in Europe but the But the irony of that is that the the problem with that is not China the problem is really the us because the Europeans have ever since John kery has been climate Envoy the Europeans have been doing exactly what America has wanted which is to deemphasize fossile fuel all that good stuff green transition while the US has tripled its fossil fuel production is the biggest fossil fuel producer and it’s the US that is now threatening to Delo subsidizing its green transition the US oh yeah majorly but that’s my point I think those are two debates I think there’s a question about Market income from China and the question of how much EV can the European market absorb given the fact which I think is the biggest problem is that nobody wants EVS that’s the problem W Wan when when Ursula underly speaks in that clip are they quaking in their boots in the high Halls of power in Beijing um I’m not sure about that but what I do know is when I was a correspondent in Washington the first story that I got I was covering was when President Obama gave billions of dollars of subsidies to cindra a California based Solar Company if you remember that episode so I think it’s a myth that China is accused of producing overc capacity because Germany like Juliana said exports some 80% of its cars and it didn’t get the France just closed its last solar France just closed its last solar panel making factory and the boss of the company said we just can’t compete they’re they they’re selling below market rate and we cannot compete it’s because Chinese prod China can produce it um faster cheaper and they’re flooding the market with subsidized Goods is what they’re saying um but we we have a fair number of Volkswagen cars on the Chinese Street and uh there’s a good amount of Microsoft computers laptops and China didn’t complain that kadik is it coming to a head what are you expecting from the European commission uh when they when they draw their conclusions when it comes to call it overc capacity call it um illegal subsidies look at uh the deficit we have the trade deficit we have between EU and China uh there is a big issue and uh we have to fix it uh we know it will have to be radical uh because uh we have waiting too much uh so it will be the the discussion uh discussion for the next uh European Parliament uh this is for sure uh we expect radical decision on this matter radical decision but we heard Emanuel macron talking up all the trade ties uh ahead uh student visas both sides were happy about that talking up all there’s an interdependence there that that is real yeah there is an interdependence this is for sure because we uh accept it to uh become dependent on China uh but now we realize the price of these dependents and uh it’s again it’s time to react I have no problem with the fact that China takes care about their own interest same for us we have to do the same we have our own interest and we have to protect them and today we look at the the balance I was in electronic when I started my uh my business life it was in 82 uh Europe was 30% of uh PCB production in the world now we are 5% and now the product are I made uh in uh in China and they say oh it’s because the labor costs are too high and there’s too it was labor cost but it was also environmental uh we uh for our the the PCB uh production in France they had to respect some regulation uh they did not have to re to to respect this kind of regulation in China we had we had a problem of distortion of competition and I’m very happy that today the lesson of the past are taken and now we say okay we can’t work in the same way as we did in the past all right so we have this overc capacity uh uh problem that’s uh denied by by the China’s president let’s listen to his messaging when it comes to not just trade or Ukraine but just to the overall relationship the world today has entered a new period of turbulence and change as two important forces in the world China and the EU should remain Partners adhere to dialogue and cooperation deepen strategic communication enhance strategic Mutual trust build strategic consensus and Carry Out strategic coordination so as to promote the steady and sound development of China EU relations and make constantly new contributions to world peace and development one Guan very often if people don’t follow China closely they hear a statement like that they think it’s kind of bland but there’s uh but maybe you could translate for us particularly the use of the word strategic so often in that clip why is he using that word I think China thinks longterm and plans long term for its own societies and for its relations with uh its foreign Partners I mean if you look at uh our efforts to lift $800 million poverty opening up and reform and receiving foreign investment um that really demonstrated U China’s long-term Vision consistency in this economic planning and economic U policymaking foreign policy wise I think um president XI is really saying that China and France can carve out their own path demonstrating that a western power and a non-western power can really have this substantial and sound and great relationship a multiac relationship um we don’t need this cat War mentality camps foring forming uh one against the other we’ve had that during the Cold War we’ve seen the consequences but if France doesn’t have the European Union it’s quite the mismatch um what do you mean I mean if it’s just a bilateral relationship between France and China France needs the Firepower of the EU behind it doesn’t it yeah but Europe or France neither of them want to be burdened by you know having to spend too much on their militaries I mean their livelihoods uh to be taken care of their you know Renewables that need to be produced uh so many you know I’m talking about economic Firepower here not necessarily military um I mean it’s it’s it’s if France alone versus China it’s a mismatch I mean China has great relations with many countries um Germany is one Schultz visited China twice in the past year and a half how did you interpret that clip that we just heard um I mean I think my fellow co-panelists just uh pointed out something very interesting which is um something that Beijing sees in uh the bilateral relationship with France um and is often talked about in Chinese readouts it’s talking about France as a major independent country I think they like to sees upon macon’s kind of transatlantic skepticism and this distance that Macon has put with the US and they think it could be potentially a shield uh from the commission well France could act as a shield within Europe for the commission to uh converge more deeply with the American agenda on China however I think uh with now uh maon inviting fundel on this visit it was clearly a message of European unity and showing that France is embracing um the European and the commission’s agenda more forcefully does China View Wan the European Union in a hostile way the way Russia views it in a hostile way no I think uh we’re two great civilizations um China respects France Germany and European countries but what about the European Union I’m talking about the European Union Yes yes the European Union as a political entity we do respect that and that’s why we’ve have uh trilateral Summits uh this time around and previously as well um I think China is um not really trying to drive a wetch if anything Trump was a bigger threat to the unity of Europe than China has ever been Juliana talking about mol’s messaging last year Xi Jinping added a personal touch to the state visit by the French President inviting M to in guangju the manufacturing Mega City that happens to be where she’s father was a senior off official this time locals in the panin near the village where the French President vacationed as a boy called wind that they’d be hosting the return leg uh they’ve seen an advanced detail of some 80 Chinese show up for a wrei over the past couple of weeks uh this is Tuesday’s events tell us yakob Hessler the the photo op that we’re going to see Tuesday uh near L on the T which is famous for cycling fans because it’s place where you go on the tour to France uh is that going to work in macon’s favor or is it going to backfire well I think it will allow him to display statesmanship and there are very famous photos of Statesmen meeting other Statesmen and I think in that sense it may act in his favor I’m not sure whether it will change the underlying opinion on him both those who are in favor of him or against is it was that a good idea the Pyrenees I think as a gesture I think it’s always better to have to reciprocate something because it’s part of diplomacy so unless you want to send the signal that you’re trying to deteriorate relationship you’re not going to not do something personal when when you were there you receed something personal I think it seems to me it’s basic diplomacy so to me it’s something it’s almost a given whether it’s Pyrenees or somewhere else I don’t you know who even when kadik you’re one month out from European elections yeah is that going to is that is is that photo op going to work in Emanuel macon’s party’s favor uh with voters in next month’s European elections uh sorry I didn’t the image of the two of them together in the pan yeah is that going to work in favor of Emanuel mol for those EU elections next month I I don’t think uh it will affect uh at all uh this European election but I want to come back to the point because it will say that China does not divide EU yes for sure and when I look at the way China Beijing reacted to the fact that in Lithuania uh because vus accepted the name of representation of Taiwan instead of taipe when we look at the what was done by China uh saying that they did not want to get any more Lithuanian product they sto any European product who had Lithuanian components inside and we had all as Europe to say to CH to Beijing stop it you can’t do that so we know it’s because we are united as EU that we have the critical size to face China and to face the competition from United States an economic way so this is for sure but we know that China tries always to divide us understand understand your concerns about I think Europe as a history loving uh continent should also understand the fact that what exists on the island of Taiwan was a legacy of the Cold War look at the two koreas two germanies and what used to be two chin so it was really U you know the aspiration of the Chinese to reunify with the island which has a dissident minority regime the unification was decided by both side of Germany remember that the unification was decided by both side as Taiwanese people if they want to reunify with Beijing I don’t it looks like it’s not we should ask ask the um the former colonies of France if they were willing to be colonized The Story Goes On Western Germany did not invite Eastern Germany Jana Bush your thoughts on on where that’s all going especially uh after uh we’ve seen the pivot in Hong Kong uh over the last couple of years well I think as uh M actually mentioned in a uh exclusive interview that he gave yesterday to Leb triun issues over you know human rights Taiwan Hong Kong are most likely to have been discussed behind closed doors so I don’t think we will see is that a good idea should you be saying these things only in private or should you say publicly what you say in private well I’m not a diplomat myself but uh I think you know ultimately part of the French strategy with this visit is also to keep communication channels open this is something that’s incredibly important uh whether it’s for cooperation on global issues or whether it’s to confront uh you know the areas on which you disagree and uh ultimately I think cornering she very publicly or putting out an inflammatory statement uh is not necessarily uh what would be most conducive to realizing that objective all right we’re seeing all the panelists nodding consensus there we’re gonna have to leave it there but I want to thank you Juliana Bush I want to thank Wang Guang for being with us yakob hestler orik thank you for being with us here in the France 24 debate [Music]

Can you still send strong messages when you’ve rolled out the red carpet and chilled the champagne for a state dinner? China’s Xi Jinping is being feted in the French capital for his first visit to Europe since 2019, despite trade tensions, spy scandals and insistence that he isolate Vladimir Putin over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. How much has changed since one year ago, when Emmanuel Macron was accused of lax messaging on human rights and Taiwan when he travelled to Beijing?
#Xi Jinping #Macron #Xi Jinping in Paris

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