PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron is due to visit China next week on a rare visit to a rising superpower.
French leaders are trying to get back on track with a busy diplomatic schedule after their decision to push through a controversial pension bill through parliament earlier this month sparked clashes and violence in French cities.
But chaotic scenes of burning garbage in Paris have been televised around the world, forcing President Macron to cancel the official visit of Britain’s King Charles.
Protests that would see trade unions launch their 11th nationwide strike during President Macron’s tenure in Beijing have seen the French president regain initiative in the war in Ukraine and play a leadership role in Europe.
This has not gone unnoticed by Chinese observers.
“The protests bring a large amount of risk and France needs a diplomatic highlight, especially since it wants to play the role of Europe’s leader,” said Wang Yiwei, director of the Centre for European Studies at Renmin University in China.
Macron will also need to keep in mind China’s tactic of playing divide and rule, said a non-Western diplomat who suggested China may try to use the trip to place a wedge in the Western camp and lure France away from the United States.
RED LINE ON RUSSIA
For his part, Macron wants to send a clear warning to his counterpart Xi Jinping, who was hosted at the Kremlin by Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month, that Europe will not accept China providing arms to Russia, now a year into its invasion of Ukraine.
“Our message will be clear:
There may be a temptation to get closer to Russia, but do not cross that line,” a senior French diplomat said.
Analysts say Putin’s decision to station nuclear weapons in Belarus can provide an opportunity for France to push China to distance itself from Russia on this point, Beijing having long denounced nuclear proliferation. “France is a nuclear power and has this card,” said Antoine Bondaz of France-based think tank FRS.
But the Brussels-based diplomat said many in Europe wondered whether he could achieve his previously stated goal of pressuring Russia to end the war with China. Told. “A lot of people in Brussels roll their eyes when I bring this up,” he said.
French diplomats downplay the impact of domestic protests on President Emmanuel Macron’s credibility abroad. points out that Xi faced his own protest. “The Chinese will strike a fine balance. They need good relations with Europe and don’t want to mess with Macron’s internal affairs,” another French diplomat said.
Europe is trying to find its own way as relations between Washington and Beijing soured, reaching a peak last month after the US shot down a Chinese balloon that was flying over its territory.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who accompanies President Macron on a visit to Beijing, said at a time when China is consolidating its hold over business without “dividing,” the European Union should be more diplomatic. He said he wants to “reduce risk” both financially and financially.
Analysts say China’s deteriorating ties with the United States are giving Europe a little more leverage as the EU’s giant single market becomes increasingly important to China.
