Chinese Leader May 5 will begin a five-day trip to France, Serbia and Hungary, the Foreign Ministry said in Beijing. These countries are seeking investment from China despite multiple EU investigations into Beijing’s industrial policies and warnings from Washington officials about the risks.
French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to deepen his personal relationship with Xi Jinping during his two-day visit to France. He will seek to persuade the Chinese leader to call on Vladimir Putin to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to people familiar with the plans who asked not to be identified discussing the approach from Paris. According to them, Macron is also seeking to attract Chinese spending to France’s electric car battery sector.
This attempt to diplomatically woo China’s leader will include hosting Xi Jinping for dinner at the Elysée Palace in Paris, where the menu may include French cognac, the alcohol that is the subject of an anti-dumping investigation by Beijing, the people said. After that, E. Macron will invite the Chinese leader to the corner of the Pyrenees mountains, where the French president visited his grandmother as a child.
“Macron gives Xi Jinping an opportunity to negotiate with the EU’s leading power, which has shown it wants to take a more independent path,” Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, told Bloomberg. The trip “is an attempt to attract those parts of Europe that Xi Jinping believes may be more favorable to his position.”
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Macron’s diplomatic adviser on Saturday that he hopes Paris can encourage the EU to pursue a pragmatic policy towards Beijing. Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also hold a tripartite meeting with Xi Jinping during his visit.
Xi Jinping’s trip comes as the EU forms a more unified voice with Washington, opposing China’s ability to export cheaply and seeing risks to member states’ national security.
After years of serving as a buffer between the world’s superpowers, Brussels is increasingly distrustful of China. Germany arrested four suspected Chinese spies last week, the latest in a string of such cases, and EU diplomats are reportedly considering tougher restrictions on Chinese companies over their support for the Russian war machine.
“I think it’s part of trying to convince Europeans that there are better options, that better relations are possible,” Duncan Freeman, a professor of China-Europe relations at the Brussels School of Management, said before Xi Jinping’s trip. “The situation is not tragic, but I think even the Chinese would agree that the relationship is far from ideal.”
Xi Jinping’s visit to Europe comes weeks after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Communist Party leaders in Beijing that China’s overcapacity was a global problem, a message echoed days later by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Both blocs are pursuing a strategy of “de-risking,” or removing Beijing from sensitive sectors, in a show of their convergence on China’s common policy.
Xi Jinping and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin are united in challenging the US-led world order, which Beijing says is trying to hold back its development.
The Chinese leader’s stop in non-EU Serbia comes during a week marking the 25th anniversary of the US bombing of the Chinese embassy in the Serbian capital, an event that brought Russia and China closer together over shared anti-American sentiment.
During his trip to Europe, Putin will also be inaugurated for a fifth term, which Xi Jinping congratulated him on, drawing attention to pro-Russian policies that have increased tensions between Beijing and Brussels.
Xi Jinping is visiting countries “where it is easier to sell opposition to the US-led global security architecture,” said Una Aleksandra Berzina-Čerenkova, director of the Center for China Studies at Riga Stradin University. Getting support from friendly countries will help Beijing send a message that “Europe is on China’s side, no matter what Brussels says,” she added.
When Xi Jinping last visited Western Europe in 2019, the economies of China and the eurozone were roughly the same size in dollar terms. Today, China’s economy is almost 15 percent. higher, and this gap is predicted to double by the end of this decade. While the bloc’s trade deficit with China is shrinking, it still remains higher than it was then.
This trade imbalance has alarmed Brussels, which has launched an investigation into Beijing’s subsidies to booming electric car brands. Research has also targeted medical device and cleantech industries, such as proposals for a Romanian solar park. Even before the official findings of the investigation are announced, such actions are causing friction: one Chinese company refused 610 million Bulgarian Railways tender worth EUR.
Hungary can be an important strategic tool for Beijing to slow this pace, as it has the power to weaken or even block EU policies. December. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban single-handedly stalled an EU aid package for Ukraine, delaying the delivery of critical goods for around six weeks.
Orban’s ability to stop trade restrictions is more limited, as measures only need a qualified majority of member states to take effect. However, Hungary was one of the countries that initially opposed the EU’s plan to blacklist some Chinese companies that supply technology used in Russia’s weaponry.
Hungary also shows that loyalty to Beijing can be rewarded. During their visit, Xi Jinping and V. Orban are going to announce that Chinese car manufacturer Great Wall Motor Ltd. will open a factory in Hungary, Radio Free Europe reported.
The Chinese company Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. has already committed to building a 7.6 billion plant together with Mercedes-Benz AG. USD 100,000 factory, which will be announced as the largest foreign direct investment in Hungary’s history and will create about 9,000 jobs. job places.
Hungary is considering using Chinese loans, subcontractors and technology to build a new railway, according to Ivana Karaskova, a researcher at the Association for International Affairs, a Prague-based think tank. “This Hungarian high-speed railway would become an example for China to secure additional infrastructure projects in the European Union,” she noted.
Companies in the world’s second-largest economy are investing abroad at their fastest pace in eight years as they open more factories overseas, which could ease trade tensions. Last year, automaker BYD Co. announced plans to build a factory in Hungary, and Chery Automobile Co. in April. signed a deal to take over an old Nissan Motor Co. plant in Spain that will make electric cars.
“China needs to give a clearer signal to the European public that it is still a reliable partner,” said Cui Hongjian, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University and a former diplomat. He added that this requires one thing: “Providing more favorable policies for European countries and companies.”
Prepared according to Bloomberg inf.
