European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will not join French President Emmanuel Macron on his state visit to China next week, the Post has learned, in a break from recent tradition.
Macron has included the European Union on his past few engagements with Chinese President Xi Jinping. This was seen as an effort to “Europeanise” his dealings with Beijing.
Von der Leyen went to Paris last year to meet Xi alongside Macron and also visited Beijing in 2023 alongside the two-term centrist French leader. Before that, her predecessor, Jean-Claude Juncker, joined Macron and former German chancellor Angela Merkel when meeting Xi in 2019.
Next week, however, there will be no EU leader present for any portion of Macron’s two-stop, three-day tour of China, according to sources, even though the suggestion was floated by Paris.
“This time, the visit will be organised as a strictly bilateral one,” an Elysee source said, adding that Macron would have “an important conversation with President Xi Jinping about the future of EU-China relations”.
“Therefore, the president will handle this himself, on behalf of France, and will report back to European partners, including the president of the European Commission, who will not be accompanying him on this visit,” the source said.
Von der Leyen is one of Europe’s toughest-talking leaders towards China and has steered Brussels in a more assertive direction in the past three years.
She is the architect of the bloc’s de-risking strategy and has spoken frequently of the need to reduce “dangerous dependencies” on Beijing.
Macron, too, has championed a more hardline approach on trade. France is one of the foremost backers of the EU’s recent embrace of industrial policy.
He has spoken in favour of using its most potent trade weapon, the anti-coercion instrument, against China over its export controls on rare earth elements and magnets.
At the same time, the French leader has sought to build close personal relations with Xi, with the pair spending many hours together during recent engagements.
In Xi’s carefully choreographed visit to France in May last year, Macron took the Chinese leader to the Pyrenees region where he spent many holidays with his grandparents.
A year earlier during a China trip, Macron was brought to Guangzhou for a tea ceremony at the official residence where Xi’s father lived when he was governor of Guangdong province.
Despite the bonhomie, the two leaders are expected to address thorny issues such as trade and geopolitical challenges such as Ukraine.
While China claims to be neutral in the Russian war, it is broadly seen in Europe as helping to bankroll Moscow’s military campaign.
“We must understand each other better on Ukraine and work together for a durable and solid peace, and on economic and commercial matters, where we need to clarify the rules of the game,” the Elysee source added.
Macron’s three-day visit is scheduled to begin on December 3, with stops in Beijing and Chengdu, according to the statement.
“On this occasion, major issues relating to the strategic partnership between France and China will be addressed, as well as several major international matters and areas of cooperation aimed at tackling the global challenges of our time,” Macron’s office said on Wednesday.
In advance of the visit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with Macron’s diplomatic adviser, Emmanuel Bonne on Thursday.
Wang told Bonne that he hoped “France would encourage the EU to pursue a positive and rational policy towards China” and “promote the healthy development of China-EU relations along the right track”, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
