Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in France on Monday, May 6, for a two-day state visit. At the end of a trilateral meeting at the Elysée with French President Emmanuel Macron and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen declared that the‘EU and France are counting on China to “use all its influence on Russia” to stop the war in Ukraine. Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron also called on Chinese President Xi Jinping to do “more efforts to limit the delivery of dual equipment to Russia [pouvant être utilisés à des fins civiles et militaires] who find themselves on the battlefield” in Ukraine, she added. Follow our live stream.
“The EU and China must remain partners” declares Xi Jinping. In opening of this trilateral meeting at the Elysée, Xi Jinping declared that “China and the EU should remain partners, continue dialogue and cooperation, deepen strategic communication, strengthen strategic mutual trust, consolidate strategic consensus and carry out strategic coordination.” For his part, the Chinese president assured that “the international situation, very clearly, requires this Euro-Chinese dialogue more than ever.”
Xi Jinping welcomed at the Elysée. The Chinese president was welcomed late Monday morning by his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in the main courtyard of the presidential palace where the Republican Guard had been deployed. Xi Jinping’s state visit to France will last two days, to mark 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The French president advocated before the Chinese president “fair rules for all” in commerce and claimed that the “coordination” with China over Ukraine and the Middle East was “decisive”.
“Xi Jinping is not our friend.” “It is not by flattering tyrants that we demonstrate realism”Raphaël Glucksmann, MEP and head of the PS-Place publique list in the European elections, was indignant on France Inter. He accuses the Chinese president of having “deported the Uyghur people, repressed the Tibetans and Hong Kongers, repressed opponents and threatened the Taiwanese.”
An action by Reporters Without Borders. The NGO defending press freedom organized an action on Monday morning in front of the Arc de Triomphe to protest against the welcome given to the Chinese president. RSF intends to recall that 119 journalists are currently in detention in China and that its representatives can no longer travel to Chinese territory.
Protests by Tibetans and Uyghurs. Some 2,000 people, mainly from France’s Tibetan community, gathered in Paris on Sunday to denounce the Chinese president’s visit. For their part, the Uighurs denounced this reception, while the French president never received them. “We asked Emmanuel Macron, on several occasions, to receive us, but he never took our requests seriously,” lamented Dilnur Reyhan, of the Uyghurs Institute of Europe.