The difficult dialogue of the President of China in Paris

Harmonious on the outside, tense on the inside: Chinese head of state, President of France and President of the European Commission they exchanged their already known positions in Paris. There is almost no approach.

“Xi Jinping's views on international issues will not change one iota.” Emanuel Linko, an expert on China at the Paris International Institute for Strategic Relations, he made such a prediction about the outcome of the Chinese leader's visit to Paris DW even before Xi set foot on French soil.

And he was right. The head of the Communist Party and President of China, Xi Jinping, has not even hinted, at least not publicly, that he is reacting to the concerns and accusations of his European interlocutors.

During a meeting with Xi at the Elysée Palace, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron warned, for example, that China must offer fair and competitive conditions to European companies - for example, for Chinese electric cars to be sold on European market, Beijing should not subsidize them to that extent.

The EU Commission has conducted an investigation into alleged car subsidies, and if the results, likely to be published in July, prove correct, the EU could impose punitive tariffs or levies on vehicles from China.

For his part, the Chinese guest in Paris, in a statement to the official Xinhua news agency, made it clear that there is no "structurally induced hyperproduction" that the EU Commission accuses China of and that, therefore, no subsidized products are delivered to Europe. with the aim of taking advantage of excess capacity in China.

China's trade surplus is growing

Xi Jinping can remain relatively calm on this issue, because electric cars from China are only a small part of the total trade volume of the world's two largest trading partners.

Last year, European Union countries imported goods from China worth 514 billion euros, and the Union exported 223 billion euros to the People's Republic. At the same time, China achieved a huge export surplus of almost 300 billion euros. In the last ten years, the volume of exports has doubled.

Economic ties are close - they should stay that way, said French President Emmanuel Macron. As confirmation of this, the Chinese delegation signed contracts for the supply of European Airbus aircraft.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, reminded of the official EU line, which is: reduce the risk of dependence on China under autocratic rule, but do not separate from good economic relations with China. In EU jargon, this is called: "rejection, without separation".

"Relations with China are complex. We approach them with a clear view, constructively and responsibly, because a just China is good for all of us," said Von der Leyen after the meeting with Presidents Xi and Macron.

French President Emmanuel Macron said before the meeting that Europe's future depends on its ability to develop a balanced relationship with China.

China sees itself as "neutral" in the war in Ukraine

The European Union also wants China to play a constructive role in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Union representatives demand that Beijing use its influence on Russia, and above all, refrain from supplying Moscow with goods that the Russian army could use in attacks on Ukraine.

Xi did not directly address the request, but said China did not cause the Ukraine crisis, nor was it taking sides. Instead, he says, China is working "tirelessly" to facilitate peace talks.

French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was a guest in Beijing just three weeks ago, say they want to treat China as a systemic rival, economic competitor and partner in climate protection.

This does not impress Chinese leader Xi Jinping. As he said in Paris, he wants good relations with Europe, but - "Si is not here to improve relations", says Janka Ertel, an expert on Asia at the Brussels think tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECRE). "According to Si, everything is fine." He claims that there is no excess capacity and that Chinese deliveries to Russia are normal trade," says Ertel.

In Paris, Xi Jinping said that in a "turbulent world", partnership dialogue between Europe and China is more necessary than ever.

China makes electric cars in Hungary

China wants to take advantage of the different attitudes that exist in the European Union. It is no coincidence that Xi Jinping is traveling from France (and after Serbia, ed.) to Hungary, where Viktor Orban, an autocrat sympathetic to Russia, rules. In Hungary, which is at odds with EU headquarters in Brussels on many key issues, China will build its first electric car factory in the European Union.

Hungary is happy about that investment, and Xi Jinping can use his own factory to elegantly avoid possible import duties on cars that the EU could increase as part of its anti-dumping investigation. Hungary has already taken a clear stance against punitive tariffs and adopted China's stance.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is also not a fan of higher tariffs on Chinese cars, because then he would have to expect Chinese countermeasures at the expense of German companies. Most of the electric cars exported from Germany, about 20 percent, went to Chinese buyers last year.

Topics such as human rights, the situation of the Uighur minority in China or tensions in the South China Sea may have been discussed in one-on-one or "six eyes" meetings between Emmanuel Macron, Ursula von der Leyen and Xi Jinping. , but they have not been publicly commented on. From Ursula von der Leyen only this much: "We had an open and honest discussion about the points on which we agree and those on which there are differences."

In other words, they expressed their opinions to each other, but without any progress.