Xi Jinping returns to Paris for a third state visit

A third official visit in ten years. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected in France on Sunday May 5, Monday May 6 and Tuesday May 7 for a state visit, during which he is expected to discuss with Emmanuel Macron the war in Ukraine and Chinese investments in France, particularly in batteries. electric.

This state visit to France marks the start of the Chinese leader's first European tour since the Covid-19 pandemic. After his visit to France, Xi Jinping will travel to Serbia and then to Hungary, where he is expected from Wednesday May 8 to Friday May 10. Xi Jinping is due to land in Paris on the evening of Sunday May 5. He is due to participate in a trilateral exchange on Monday with Emmanuel Macron and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

A state dinner will take place at the Lycée in the evening, with the French and Chinese presidents as well as their wives, in the presence of several Chinese artists. The two couples will go the next day to the Hautes-Pyrnes, to the Col du Tourmalet, the legendary climb of the Tour de France, where Emmanuel Macron wants to share a more intimate moment with his Chinese counterpart. He frequently went there in his childhood to visit his maternal grandmother, Germaine Nogus, who died in 2013 and who lived in Bagnres-de-Bigorre.

Unknown evening Versailles in 2014

Previously, the Chinese president visited France in 2014 and 2019, respectively to mark the 50th and 55th anniversary of bilateral relations. General de Gaulle's France was the first Western country to recognize communist China in 1964. In 2014, Xi Jinping began his first state visit to France in Lyon, where many former leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, such as Deng Xiaoping, have visited.

In addition to dinner at the city hall, Xi Jinping visited the BioMrieux molecular biology research center, which has set up a Wuhan laboratory. The Chinese president was then welcomed at the Hôtel national des Invalides Paris by François Hollande, before an interview with the French president Llyse. Xi Jinping was also the first Chinese head of state to visit UNESCO headquarters where he gave a speech. His wife was appointed special envoy for the promotion of education for girls and women at the institution.

Xi Jinping and Franois Hollande celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations between China and France at the Quai d'Orsay, ahead of an evening at the Palace of Versailles, a first for a Chinese leader, with a visit to the Hall of Mirrors and a concert on the agenda. the Royal Opera and finally a private dinner at the Grand Trianon.

This visit had a strong economic connotation, since the two heads of state chaired a signing ceremony of major contracts worth 18 billion euros, including the formalization of the agreement on the entry into the capital of the PSA group (now Stellantis) of the French state. and Chinese automaker Dongfeng. Airbus, for its part, signed a contract worth some 5.8 billion euros to produce 1,000 helicopters with the Chinese company Avicopter, in addition to a memorandum of understanding for the purchase by China of 70 aircraft worth 7 billion euros.

European Common Front

Five years later, it was Emmanuel Macron's turn to welcome Xi Jinping, in the context of diplomatic and commercial tensions between China and the United States. The French president received his Chinese counterpart on the Cote d'Azur for a private dinner, before a formal welcome the next day under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The two presidents were then joined by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, Emmanuel Macron seeking to unify the European approach to Chinese ambitions. Xi Jinping, for his part, had just signed an agreement in Italy for the new Silk Road, a huge strategic project by Beijing aimed at economically linking China to Europe.

Once again, the 2019 visit was punctuated by announcements of commercial contracts, particularly in the fields of agri-food, energy and culture, but especially aeronautics with a contract for 300 Airbus for an amount of 30 billion euros. Xi Jinping's previous visits to France had also been marked by demonstrations by opponents, particularly in favor of the Tibetan cause or the defense of human rights. Mobilizations are planned again this year, Sunday May 5 in particular in Paris, to denounce both the repression of the Ughurs in Xinjiang and that of the Tibetans.