Ukraine, French cognac and electric vehicles are just some of the topics that Chinese and French presidents Xi Jinping and Emmanuel Macron will discuss.
The Chinese leader arrived in Paris on Sunday, May 5, where he will stay for two days.
He hailed "new vistas" in Sino-French relations during his first trip to Europe in five years - a trip that resembles a charm offensive.
The Chinese president will try to prevent a looming trade war with Brussels, which fears the entry of cheap Chinese electric vehicles into the European market.
The West accuses China of helping Russian President Vladimir Putin wage war in Ukraine by supplying technology and equipment.
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Xi Jinping is trying to win over the French and strengthen China's influence in Europe to counter any American narrative.
The Chinese president will also meet in France with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.
She accepted the policy of "rejecting the Chinese risk", which implies tougher talks and reducing European dependence on Chinese imports and technology.
After Paris, Xi Jinping will be in Belgrade on May 7 and 8, which will be his second official visit to Serbia in the previous eight years.
Read why Serbia is important to China in a separate text.
The Chinese president's last stop in Europe will be Hungary, which has increasingly close economic ties with this Asian country.
Viktor Orbán's Fidesz government is making huge efforts to attract Chinese investment, and Hungary's opening to Chinese technology factories read here.
Markon wants to press the Chinese president on Beijing's friendship with Moscow and how far he is willing to go to resolve the war in Ukraine, especially since Putin is scheduled to be in Beijing at the end of May.
One of the topics will be French cognac - the spirit that China imports the most.
Beijing is threatening to impose tariffs on its imports in response to a European Union investigation into Chinese electric vehicles.
That would be a major blow to French producers of this strong drink, who said at the end of April that high tariffs would be a blow to the future of the industry. Beijing is likely to be equally concerned about the results of an EU investigation into Chinese subsidies for electric vehicles.
Europe is a key market for China's extremely successful electric car manufacturers.
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If Beijing wants to "resist anti-Chinese relations", it is crucial to win over the French president, said the Chinese ambassador in Paris. In order to succeed in this, Xi Jinping emphasizes the ties that unite these two countries, celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations with Macron.
On the eve of his arrival in Paris, the Chinese president is in a column for a French newspaper Figaro wrote that he brings three messages.
China is committed to opening "new vistas" in relations with France, "widening" opening to the world and preserving world peace and stability.
"With the torch of history, China and France will light the way, open a brighter future for Sino-French relations, and make a new contribution to world peace, stability and development," writes Xinhua, the Chinese news agency.
It is also unknown that the Chinese president loves French writers and artists, and that his book is now also published in French.
But there is also a message of caution.
That's how it is in the editorial Global Times Europe calls for it to be independent, and "especially not to be controlled by a third party," a not-so-subtle reference to America.
Emmanuel Macron has in the past refused to follow US policy towards China.
While in Beijing in 2023, he stated that Europe should not "blindly" follow Washington on the issue of Taiwan, which caused many controversies.
Although Macron is one of the strongest supporters of a series of trade measures that have angered Beijing in recent weeks, he wants Chinese companies to build electric vehicle factories in France.
However, he proved that he will not be a weak opponent. While preparing for the visit of his Chinese counterpart, the French president met in Paris with Sikyong Penp Tsering, the leader of the Tibetan government in exile.
One of Macron's key priorities will be to warn China of the danger that its support for Russia in the invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, could cause.
Like America, France, like most countries of the European Union, wants China to stop supplying Russia with weapon parts. "It is in our interest to make China evaluate the stability of the international order.
"We have to work with China to build peace," Macron said in an interview with Economist published on Thursday, May 2.
The Chinese president has so far refused to do anything to stop Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Beijing "understands the consequences of the Ukrainian crisis for the European people," he wrote in a column for Figaro, adding that China "is not participating in it and is playing a constructive role in striving for its peaceful resolution." Regardless of the outcome of his visit to France, the stay of the Chinese president in Hungary and Serbia, will prove that Beijing still has allies in the eastern part of Europe.
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