Macron plans to pressure Xi Jinping on trade and the war in Ukraine

During Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Paris this Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron intends to pressure his Chinese counterpart to reduce the trade imbalance and try to convince him to use his influence on Moscow over Russia's war against Ukraine.

This was reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to Reuters.

None of these issues is expected to be easy to achieve success during Xi Jinping's two-day stay in France, where he visited amid growing trade tensions between Europe and China.

For example, Paris supports the European Union's investigation into Chinese electric vehicle exports, while in January Beijing launched an investigation into French cognac imports. Observers explain this step by China as "revenge" for the growing number of EU investigations.

"We must continue to insist that the Chinese authorities provide us with more guarantees on trade," said an Elysee Palace adviser before Xi Jinping's visit.

France also seeks to encourage China to put pressure on Moscow to stop its military aggression against Ukraine.

However, little progress has been made so far, except for Xi Jinping's decision to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the first time shortly after Macron's visit to Beijing last year, the publication says.

"China is one of Russia's main partners, and our goal is to use the leverage it has over Moscow to change Russia's calculations and help resolve the conflict," the same Elysee Palace adviser said.

A French diplomatic source said that if the Chinese want to deepen relations with their European partners, it is very important that "they hear our point of view and start taking it seriously."

Putting pressure on a country and developing cooperation with it at the same time is a strange idea. It won't work.

Author - Serhii Kolomiets, 05/05/2024