Before his pleasant visit to Serbia, Chinese President Xi Jinping had difficult talks in France. Huge markets, money, and perhaps world peace are at stake
The atmosphere in world relations has changed radically, not only because of the war in Ukraine, but also because of the attitude of the West towards Kini which they accuse of cooperation with Russia, marketing of goods at dumping prices, espionage and much more.
Visit Si Jinping For France, it aimed to moderate criticism and pave the way for cooperation, despite differences.
President Xi said in an editorial in the Figaro newspaper that China is ready to strengthen cooperation and coordination with France for the sake of world peace and stability. He said that the relations between the two countries are a bridge for communication with the West.
He announced cooperation in solving the Ukrainian problem and the war in the Middle East. He emphasized that the two countries share a lot in common in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Photo: Fonet / APEmmanuel Macron and Xi Jinping
How to cooperate despite differences?
If papers with propaganda, ideological accusations and problematic strategic oversights are removed from the negotiating table - and there were plenty of them - the essence remains: how to continue economic cooperation?
How to cooperate despite differences? France is a tough nut to crack on that road, although compared to other major European countries it has perhaps the softest attitude towards Beijing.
Paris is trying to find space for more independent action, especially in the context of the policy of the United States towards China, which President Macron considers rigorous.
But he also accuses Beijing of "unfair economic practices". The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who is known as a sharp critic of Chinese economic policy, participated in one part of the talks with Xi Jinping.
Last year, the EU recorded a deficit in trade with China of almost 300 billion euros, out of a total exchange of 750 billion. China is its largest trading partner, bigger than the United States.
The enormous US trade deficit with China during the time of Donald Trump led to economic sanctions, and now the EU is thinking in a similar way, although under different slogans.
Decoupling and de-risking are mentioned. The first term should refer to the reduction of great economic and technological dependence on China, and the second is not to engage in risky business with Chinese companies.
The Chinese president could only repeat what he already told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Beijing last month: China is not a risk for the EU.
The real risk is not cooperating with China. It is a huge market with a population of 1,4 billion, of which at least 400 million are in the middle class with good incomes.
After all, China has been participating with thirty percent in world development for many years. Xi called on France to invest in China and expressed his willingness to open up the Chinese market even more.
Photo: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool, FileThe Chinese president started his tour
The fight for the car of the future
In France, which is a major car maker, there was a heated debate ahead of Xi Jinping's visit over whether to impose higher tariffs on Chinese electric cars that are flooding the world.
Last year, electric vehicles were sold in the EU for more than 11 billion euros.
Ursula von der Leyen mostly advocated for higher customs duties because, as she says, these are dumping prices in the formation of which the state participates. On the other hand, German Chancellor Scholz said last month in Beijing that Germany welcomes the import of Chinese e-vehicles.
According to the Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei, the Chinese electric vehicle Xiaomi SU7 MAX, with similar or better technical qualities than Tesla, Porsche and Mercedes, is sold at significantly lower prices. The Chinese e-car is sold for 41.500 euros, and Western vehicles are two or three times more expensive.
The Chinese previously registered Macron's statement that he would like to see a Chinese investment on French soil for the construction of a factory for electric vehicles. Earlier, the Chinese rejected this offer, and now it is still uncertain whether Xi made a different statement.
It looks like Hungary will threaten France in realizing that wish.
Tanjug / Dragana KujundžićChinese President visiting Serbia in 2018
Differences in global chess
The first foreign policy topic was Ukraine and Russian aggression. No new statements, different from the known ones, were heard. China does not agree to the introduction of sanctions against Russia, as requested by France.
Xi reiterated that China supports Ukraine's territorial integrity and is against solving the problem by force. He said China is committed to a peaceful solution and has proposed a 12-point plan to that end. That plan envisages peace talks, but does not set a precondition for the withdrawal of Russian troops.
That is why the Chinese plan is unacceptable for Ukraine and the West.
Switzerland's initiative to organize a peace conference next month was mentioned. The calls were sent to 160 addresses in the world. Russia and Belarus have said they will not participate because Switzerland is "not neutral" in the conflict.
China has said that it is still thinking about participating, but after Xi Jinping's current statements about the coordination of peace actions with France, it is certain that it will participate.
"The Chinese live there"
During the stay of the Chinese president, the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries was marked. France was the first among Western countries to recognize the People's Republic of China (the United States only 15 years later).
In 1964, President de Gaulle received the first French ambassador before his departure to Beijing. Mr. Andre Levin talked about everything he could find out about China in books and encyclopedias.
De Gaulle listened to everything, although his minister Malraux wrote that he had the impression that the French president was thinking about other things. Shaking the new ambassador's hand in parting, de Gaulle said: "And don't forget, sir, that the Chinese live there."
When the ambassador came to Beijing, China had a national income of about one hundred billion dollars. Now there are over 17 thousand billion.
He became convinced: Chinese people really live there.
After serious and at times difficult talks with the French president, and there were also Tibetan protesters, Xi Jinping is coming to Serbia and then to Hungary.
In a relaxed atmosphere, there will be pleasant talks with many signed documents on further cooperation, primarily on the economic front.
*Journalist Aleksandar Novačić (1939) has been a correspondent from Beijing and Moscow for several decades. He is the author of several books about China.
What is happening in the country and the world, what is in the newspapers and how to pass the time?
Every Wednesday at noon In between arrives by email. It's a pretty solid newsletter, so sign up!
How were the cases kept out of control, the investigations directed towards the citizens who sought protection, and the prosecutors were left without answers from the police? Branko Stamenković talks about the findings of the commission of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, the responsibility of his colleagues and what is needed for the institutions to work according to the law again
Who now decides on the Government and the program, the plenum or the deputy? There are different views on this in the Student Movement and among the people on the list, but a middle solution is being sought, "Vreme" learns. Be that as it may, the program of over a thousand pages already exists
The outgoing government treats the state like an apartment from which it moves out after losing a dispute. And all the time she shouts loudly that her neighbors are demolishing the building
"The main priority of the new government should be the preservation of employment and the growth of the standard of the population. And this will not be easy to achieve at all, because we will have a decline in employment in clientelistic companies that cooperated with the former regime. Some will close, but the important thing is that many people will lose their jobs. In the case of large private companies that are experiencing difficulties, the government should commit to better owners taking over these companies in order to save thousands of jobs. We will already have this case with Davora Macure's companies, among which is "Idea"
How much money from the Growth Plan has been irretrievably lost for us, how much has been frozen and how much is still waiting for us? What should Serbia do in order to receive these European funds and what will the citizens get from it? Is a new chapter in Brussels-Belgrade relations beginning?
At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vučić's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning
The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
The archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
