Hence the treatment applied to Macron, who was received with a red carpet and all the honors by Foreign Minister Qin Gang himself for a three-day visit that included a stop on Friday in the southern city of Guangzhou (formerly Canton). At the opposite pole, Von der Leyen was met by a lower-ranking minister at the usual exit for airport passengers. In Guangzhou, the French president dined with Xi for the second time after having attended another banquet on Wednesday, notes EFE. It is rare for Xi to meet with foreign leaders outside of Beijing, and Guangzhou was chosen because, according to Cui, it has a “unique” position in China’s economic development and accounts for about a fifth of China’s total trade with France. Meanwhile, Macron, who is seeking to “build his own voice,” according to Cui, maintained a friendly tone during his trip, stressing that neither his country nor Europe should dissociate itself from China and that, on the contrary, he remains committed to multiplying relations, especially all commercial relations, with the Asian country. Unsurprisingly, during the visit, the Chinese authorities gave the green light to an order from the Chinese company CASC for 160 aircraft purchased from the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus. “From a Chinese perspective, Macron, who has defended close economic ties with Beijing and talked about the benefits of not taking sides in the dispute between China and the United States, is in a good position to help restore ties with Europe,” he said. Another analyst told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post on condition of anonymity.

Von der Leyen, an ice-cold welcome from Chinese government

Macron’s reception contrasts with the quick visit of Von der Leyen, who, after the trilateral meeting he had with the Chinese and French presidents, attended a sober and brief press conference at the headquarters of the EU delegation. Another relevant gesture took place at that trilateral meeting: Xi received Macron in person before their meeting, while Von der Leyen went up the stairs alone to join the meeting with the two leaders. And while Chinese state media praised the Sino-French relationship, social media branded Von der Leyen “a puppet of the Americans”. Ursula von der Leyen “is able to sell Europe for the benefit of the USA and spares no effort to push Europe towards a confrontation with Russia. She visited China only because of Macron”, it was stated in an article published on affiliated social networks by the Chinese Ministry of Defense. And while Macron has avoided raising the ever-thorny issue of Taiwan, the island Beijing claims, in his meetings with Xi, Von der Leyen has not hesitated to put the matter on the backburner. “Stability in Taiwan is of vital importance. Any unilateral and forced change to the current status quo is unacceptable,” the European official said. At that moment, Xi went from gestures to statements: “The Taiwan issue is the core of China’s interests, and anyone who thinks that China will make concessions on this issue is shooting himself in the foot,” he replied.

Von der Leyen also spoke bluntly about the “risks and imbalances” that “need to be addressed” in the relations between Brussels and Beijing and threw several arrows, such as the “unsustainable” trade deficit between the two entities, which “tripled” or “the policies of Chinese laws that prevent, among other things, the access of some products to the market of the Asian giant”. And in the background was the war in Ukraine, a problem that both Macron and Von der Leyen dealt with in their own way, with the aim of involving China more in the achievement of peace. But Xi, impassive, limited himself only to admitting that this “crisis is protracted” and that it is “difficult to solve”, and again asked all parties to show “calm and reason”.

By Sara Colin