the taboo subject of human rights

Emmanuel Macron takes Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Pyrenees on Tuesday on the second day of his state visit. This step could, in the mind of the French delegation, promote “a frank and friendly exchange” on these thorny subjects.

After a first day devoted to trade and security issues, the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping takes a slightly more intimate turn on Tuesday May 7 with a getaway to the Hautes-Pyrénées, to La Mongie. Emmanuel Macron wants him to discover the places where he spent his holidays as a child, with his grandmother. The two presidents will even climb the Col du Tourmalet, but not in tandem, to have lunch at the summit. A little personal attention echoing that which his counterpart had given him in 2023. Xi Jinping then received him in Guangzhou, the city of his childhood. Exchanges of good manners which frequently enhance these official visits.

Some criticize Emmanuel Macron for doing a little too much. This is the risk when we roll out the red carpet for a leader who is not a democrat. Shows of affection are not really welcome. We remember, for example, Bernadette Chirac dancing a waltz to the sound of the accordion with President Jiang Zemin invited to Corrèze in 1999. It is precisely in this intimate setting that Emmanuel Macron should address the taboo subject of this type of visits: human rights. But be careful, the Élysée lets it be known that the head of state prefers to discuss these “disagreements” behind “closed doors”.

No incidents in sight

This exchange should be very civilized, without progress in substance and without scandal in terms of form. It has not always been this way in the past. Human rights are the sticking plaster that sticks to the French president’s coattails when he welcomes a dictator. Are we not the famous “homeland of human rights”? Enough to cause some incidents. We remember, for example, Laurent Fabius, then Prime Minister, confessing his “trouble” when François Mitterrand received Polish General Jaruzelski in December 1985. Or the reaction of Rama Yade, Secretary of State for Human Rights, outraged by the treatment given by Nicolas Sarkozy to Colonel Gaddafi who had pitched his tent in the gardens of the Hôtel de Marigny in December 2007. “France is not a doormat on which a leader, terrorist or not, can come and wipe his feet of the blood of his crimes,” she declared. Strangely, Rama Yade remains the last holder of the position. Since his departure from the government 15 years ago, the human rights portfolio has not had a dedicated minister or secretary of state.