Xi Jinping, lightning visit to Europe: He goes to France, Serbia and Hungary. What are the stakes of China’s president’s halts

The President of China, Xi Jinping, is expected next week in Europe for the first time in the last five years (except for last year’s visit to Vladimir Putin in Moscow). In Paris he is trying to bring France to the friendlier path of Germany. He wants to bring the two European countries that are pro-Russia closer by a railway line between Budapest and Belgrade. Serbia hopes that a free trade agreement signed in October with China will enter into force on July 1.

Xi will be in Europe from May 5-10. The Chinese president will visit France, Serbia and Hungary as the European Union threatens to hit China’s electric vehicle and green energy industry with tariffs over huge subsidies that the European bloc says give Chinese manufacturers an unfair advantage. on the European market.

Given that Chinese companies are having problems in the US, the European Union could gain influence over Beijing. But the 27 members of the bloc are not clearly aligned, which can be difficult to manage in the EU’s relations with China.

Lin Jian, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said that Xi’s visit will “inject stability into the development of relations between China and Europe and make new contributions to peace and stability in the world.”

So, one of the countries visited is France, which is part of the bloc that prefers actions to counter Chinese economic protectionism. According to sources, French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron would encourage German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to join him and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for four-way talks with Xi Jingping in Paris, in an attempt to show that the EU is a monolith.

Currently, there is a gap between the German position regarding China, on the one hand, and the position of the French and the European Commission, on the other. There is a greater willingness in Paris and Brussels to stand up to Beijing on the trade front than in Berlin.

French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing for a more aggressive EU stance on subsidies and has warned the bloc risks being left behind if it does not allow derogations from its own competition rules in the face of “excessive subsidies” from China and the US. “We regulate too much, we don’t invest enough, we don’t protect enough,” Macron told The Economist in an interview published Thursday.

On the other hand, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz went to China in April to ask the Chinese president for better access to the Chinese market for German companies. Some French government officials are worried that Berlin will try to undermine the electric vehicle investigation, which has targeted Chinese carmakers BYD, Geely and SAIC. China is a key market for Germany’s export-based economy and its automakers, such as BMW and Mercedez-Benz.

European companies and governments have long complained about restricted access to the Chinese market and unfair competition. A study by Germany’s Kiel Institute estimated that China’s subsidies to its firms are three to nine times higher than those granted by other major economies.

Why is Xi going to Hungary and Serbia?

The Chinese president’s visit has another key point – European concerns about Chinese support for Russia’s war economy after two years of war in Ukraine.

An aide to Macron said the French leader would join calls from Washington, Brussels, Berlin and elsewhere for China to halt exports to Russia of “dual-use” technology and other technologies that support the country’s war effort. Russia.

In Serbia and Hungary, any public comments by Xi regarding Russia will face close scrutiny, writes Reuters. Xi is due to receive Russian President Vladimir Putin in China this month.

Observers say Xi’s choice of Serbia and Hungary was designed to bring together two European countries that are pro-Russia and are big beneficiaries of Chinese investment, including financial aid for a delayed railway project that is supposed to link Budapest from Belgrade.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he was honored by Xi’s visit and expected a free trade agreement between the two countries, signed last October, to come into effect on July 1.

Chinese analysts say Xi could use his stopover in Belgrade, which coincides with the 20th anniversary of NATO’s bombing of the Chinese embassy in that country, to highlight China’s anti-NATO agenda. Hungary, for its part, has a history of blocking EU statements criticizing China on human rights. Shen Dingli, a researcher in the field of international relations based in Shanghai, believes that the actions to raise awareness of Serbia and Hungary are part of China’s efforts to deepen the divisions within the West.