French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen separately visit China, where they will discuss issues of bilateral and international interest such as Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
Until next Friday, the leaders’ agenda will also include the analysis of trade relations between the European Union (EU) and the Asian country; as well as prevent the deepening of Sino-Russian relations.
Macron is expected to take advantage of his state visit to win advantageous commercial contracts, since his delegation includes more than 50 company executives, among them the Airbus company, which intends to make a significant sale of aircraft to the Chinese.
Ursula von der Leyen, for her part, will meet twice in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping; on one of these occasions together with the French president. This was stated by the spokesman for the European Commission, Eric Mamer, who stressed that, before traveling, the German politician will speak by phone with the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski.
“The president travels to China to hold a general discussion on EU-China relations. The strategic issues that we share with the Asian giant will be on the agenda,” the spokesperson also confirmed.
Von der Leyen’s trip to Beijing comes a week after her speech at the European Policy Center (EPC) in Brussels (capital of Belgium), in which she analyzed China’s aspirations to become the world’s leading power.
The German politician listed some of the friction between the Community Executive and the Asian giant and called for maintaining “an open line of communication with China”, in what is considered a new policy aimed at reassessing the diplomatic and economic ties of the EU with Beijing.
Relations between China and Europe have been strained since the bilateral investment pact was discontinued in 2021 and due to the considerable differences in positions regarding Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.
However, last year, the Asian country was the third partner of the European Union in exports of goods, and the first in imports.
