Macron’s China Visit stresses Europe’s divide with US on China
According to the Hill, Macron is trying to convince China’s leader Xi Jinping “to play a major role in building peace between Ukraine and Russia”.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to China on April 5-7 demonstrated growing differences of opinion between US and European officials, according to an article in the Hill newspaper published on Saturday.
The article asserts that recent high-level meetings “are underscoring growing tensions between the US and Europe in how to engage with China.” According to the newspaper, Macron is trying to convince China’s leader Xi Jinping “to play a major role in building peace between Ukraine and Russia.”
The Biden administration and US Congress insist that Beijing is “working to reshape the world in the view of China’s authoritarian model,” while “European leaders are less unified on the risks versus rewards of close ties with Beijing.”
According to the newspaper, the fact that Macron was accompanied by dozens of business officials “highlights France’s focus on maintaining, if not strengthening, economic ties to China.”
However, the article states that “Europe itself is split on China.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who accompanied Macron on his trip, “has staked out a more hawkish position” with regard to China and said that Europe should “derisk” in its economic ties with China.
“Her hawkish approach is viewed as more in line with central and eastern European countries, which have split with mainstream views from France and Germany,” the newspaper concludes.
