France : Von der Leyen, Macron and Xi Jinping held very different positions during the 90-minute meeting, each saying his own thing

European Union Executive Committee Chairman von der Leyen and French President Macron held a trilateral summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on May 6. Von der Leyen expressed after the meeting that she expected China to use all its influence over Russia to end Russia's aggressive war in Ukraine. Regional and economic security are the two major issues of greatest concern to the EU. When necessary, various trade defense methods will be adopted to ensure European economy and security. Xi Jinping, on the other hand, denies that China has an overcapacity problem.

At Macron's invitation, von der Leyen held about 90 minutes of talks with Xi Jinping, who visited Paris on Monday local time. According to Western media reports, Von der Leyen issued a statement to the media after the meeting, saying that we expect China to use all its influence over Russia to end Russia’s aggressive war in Ukraine. Xi Jinping has played an important role in reducing Russia’s irresponsible nuclear threat. , she believes Xi Jinping will continue to do so despite the threat of Russian nuclear weapons.

This summit will discuss two major topics, one is related to geopolitics, and the other is China’s overcapacity problem. Von der Leyen also said that she and Macron also expressed the hope that China would not provide lethal weapons to Russia, including support for dual-use military and civilian products, and reiterated that this matter is of vital importance to EU-China relations. She also mentioned that Iran poses a direct threat to the stability of the Middle East region. Von der Leyen said that she believed that China could play an important role in containing Iran. Chinese official media did not report the above request made by von der Leyen to Xi Jinping.

Von der Leyen calls on Xi Jinping not to provide weapons to Russia

In this regard, Song Guocheng, a researcher at the International Relations Research Center of Taiwan National Chengchi University, said in an interview with Radio Free Asia on Tuesday that Xi Jinping's visit to three European countries is because China is trying to ease the situation when it is mainly facing countervailing investigations by Europe and the United States on its electric vehicles and other products. Relations with Europe and the United States. He said: "He (Xi Jinping) wants to use this, what I call a dual diplomatic approach of differentiation and inducement, to find a breakthrough. Because Europe is now very dissatisfied with China because it has repeatedly advised the CCP not to support Russia, and at the same time it has low prices for China. The dumping has reached the point of outrage.”

The EU has used a number of policy tools such as countervailing investigations against China, which has recently become the focus of tension between Europe and China. Von der Leyen said she raised three things with Xi Jinping regarding economic and trade relations. For example, Chinese steel materials are flooding in Europe, making "the world unable to absorb China's overproduction." Therefore, she emphasized that the EU is cooperating with the seven major industrial countries and developing countries. How to face the problem of China distorting the market, etc.

Song Guocheng said that China's low-price dumping problem is very serious: "This will cause business closures and unemployment of local workers in Europe and the United States. More seriously, it will cause the impoverishment of local communities. In Western countries, community impoverishment is a serious problem political issues."

Xi Jinping praised that the country represents advanced production capacity

Chinese media’s coverage of Xi Jinping’s attendance at the China-EU talks is consistent with China’s official position. CCTV reported that Xi Jinping said during a meeting with Macron and Von der Leyen: China's new energy industry has "developed real skills" in open competition. It represents advanced production capacity, which not only enriches global supply and alleviates global inflationary pressure, but also Make great contributions to the global response to climate change and green transformation. Whether from the perspective of comparative advantage or global market demand, there is no overcapacity problem in China. China and the EU should handle economic and trade frictions through dialogue and consultation.

Xi Jinping said at the meeting that China-EU relations have strong endogenous driving force and broad development prospects, and are not targeted at, dependent on, or controlled by third parties. It is hoped that the EU institutions will "establish a correct understanding of China" and formulate a positive policy towards China. He also said that the essence of China-EU cooperation is complementary advantages, mutual benefit and win-win. The two sides have extensive common interests and huge space for cooperation in green and digital transformation. The two sides should properly handle economic and trade frictions through dialogue and consultation, and accommodate the legitimate concerns of both sides, emphasizing China-EU cooperation is “two important forces”.

Zhuo Zhonghong, former director of the European Institute of Tamkang University in Taiwan, said in an interview with this station that for many years, Europe has been highly dependent on the Chinese market, but China dumped goods at low prices in Europe, causing an impact on the European business environment. He said: "Now they are thinking about how to get rid of over-reliance on a single field in a certain country, and the same is true for China. So they are now trying their best to return to neighboring countries in the region as the target of their products, which are close to their political stance or ideology. country to do (business).”

Xi Jinping meets with Macron to discuss strengthening trade cooperation

After attending the tripartite meeting, Xi Jinping held talks with French President Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris that afternoon. Xinhua News Agency reported that Xi Jinping said that he was pleased to pay his third state visit to France on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. They also expressed the need to jointly prevent a "new cold war" or camp confrontation; insist on mutual understanding and "adhere to mutual benefit and win-win results, and jointly oppose 'decoupling and breaking links'."

Xi Jinping also promised Macron that he is willing to import more high-quality French products, as well as "deepen cooperation in traditional advantageous areas such as aerospace and aviation, and strengthen cooperation in nuclear energy, innovation, and finance."

Macron hopes to export more agricultural products to China, while keeping the Chinese market open and not pursuing discriminatory policies against Chinese companies. That night, Macron and his wife Brigitte held a welcome dinner for Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan at the Elysée Palace.

After Xi Jinping's visit to France, he will go to Hungary and Serbia. The leaders of these two countries are regarded by China as "old friends of the Chinese people" and have close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.