French President Emmanuel Macron presented his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Monday, on the first day of a two-day state visit, with a carved vase from an art glass factory in Amboise, Indre-et-Loire, made by glass sculptor Pierre Gallou, declares the Élysée Palace BFMTV, reports News.ro.
This vase was made “as a tribute to China”, Emmanuel Macron told Xi Jinping.
He offered him two works by Victor Hugo in an 1861 edition – “Contemplations” and “Notre-Dame de Paris”, translated into Chinese.
“I know you like Victor Hugo very much, you have often paid tribute to him,” Emmanuel Macron told Xi Jinping.
The French head of state gave his Chinese counterpart an edition of the first “known” French-Chinese dictionary, published in 1742, Hennessy cognac and Baiju, a Chinese Moutai cognac.
He presented her with a decanter of Rémy Martin Louis XIII cognac.
This gift is not insignificant at all, in the context in which cognac and Chinese brandy imported from the European Union (EU) have been targeted since January by an investigation by the Chinese authorities regarding an alleged violation of competition.
Following a meeting with Xi Jinping, Emmanuel Macron “thanked” the Chinese president “for his openness to provisional noses about French cognac and his desire not to be applied”.
During his visit to China in April 2023, Emmanuel Macron presented Xi Jinping with a Sèvres porcelain vase, two images made by photographer Marc Riboud and books related to the work of this famous artist for his reports in China.
Diplomatic gift exchanges are a custom during state visits.
It is often about gifts related to the culture of one of the respective countries, sometimes with symbolic value.
Emmanuel Macron offered King Charles III, in September, an original edition of “Racines du ciel” by Romain Gary.
This book, awarded with the Prix Goncourt in 1956, has as its central theme the protection of nature, a subject in which Charles has been engaged for many years.
Emmanuel Macron, who hopes to establish France as a “balancing power” in the Sino-American conflict, is celebrating together with his Chinese counterpart the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations.
Xi Jinping arrived in Paris on Sunday on his first European tour of 2019.
A formal welcome ceremony with great fanfare took place at the Invalides, with a military band.
The two presidents met again on Monday evening at the Élysée Palace.
The presidents and their wives meet on Tuesday in the Pyrenees Mountains.
