The EU-China relationship

Xi's first visit to Europe in five years – tough demands await

The war in Ukraine and trade tensions are expected to be on the agenda when China's leader Xi Jinping makes his first visit to Europe in five years, Reuters and Nikkei Asia write. The vexed issue of imports of cheap subsidized Chinese electric cars is expected to be raised when Xi meets French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday.

- I want a restart because China now has excess capacity in many areas and a massive export to Europe, Macron said in an interview with La Tibune before the state visit, according to Bloomberg.

Macron is predicted to find it difficult to get his trade demands heard when even the EU's 27 member states are not in complete agreement, writes Reuters.

Macron is also expected to appeal to Xi to use his influence over Russia to influence the war in Ukraine.
The Chinese president will also visit Serbia and Hungary this week.

...........................................

Analysis: Xi minimizes damage - Washington will be watching

Chinese President Xi Jinping has landed on European soil. When he now visits France, Hungary and Serbia, the world is completely different from the last visit in 2019, writes Christina Lu in an analysis in Foreign Policy.

She mentions the corona pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and writes that Europe's view of China has deteriorated. It is, among other things, an effect of China's deepened cooperation with Russia and Xi's visit is about minimizing damage, she writes.

She further writes that Xi Jinping at the same time wants to take advantage of the fact that a rift has arisen among European countries regarding the relationship with China.

Finbarr Bermingham writes in the South China Morning Post that France's Emmanuel Macron is considered to have been inconsistent with Beijing. He has been a strong advocate of trade measures against China, but also said that Europe should not obey the US "blindly" in the Taiwan issue, writes Bermingham.

"From a Chinese perspective, the trip means an important opportunity to influence one of the EU's most powerful members."

According to the NYT's Roger Cohen and Christ Buckley, the trip is a way for Xi to demonstrate his influence on the global stage. From the US side, it is seen as an attempt by Beijing to divide the West, according to the writers.