Journalists were not allowed to ask questions during the press conference. ‘That made it sound like a monologue was repeated twice. There was also a lot of space between Macron and Xi Jinping,” said Europe correspondent Stefan de Vries. Macron’s speech lasted twice as long as the Chinese president’s. “This made Xi visibly irritated, because actually you don’t do it when you come on a state visit,” says de Vries.
Movement to the European corner
Macron has called on China to condemn Russian aggression. Prior to the discussion, it appeared that China was moving towards Europe. Nothing could be further from the truth, because when Xi spoke he said, just like in recent months, that both sides have reasonable interests in the war.
The Kremlin responded immediately and indicated that Chinese mediation in the Ukrainian war is excluded. The Russians seem unwilling to seek solutions and are determined to continue the war.
Profitable business
In addition to speaking about the war, the French president also had fifty senior executives of French companies and representatives of culture in his wake. “The Airbus deal will give the Chinese economy a strong growth boost, but there were also CEOs of companies like Veolia, L’Oreal and Danone.” explains DeVries.
“This is a bit hypocritical of Macron”
“She’s a bit hypocritical towards Macron, because German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was in China in November with a group of German CEOs. Which France was very angry about. Scholz would threaten European unity and pay attention only to German affairs’, continues De Vries.
Von der Leyen was also in China at Macron’s invitation. “They want to show that Europe is united, but we still see that there is no one-sided voice coming from Europe,” explains the correspondent for Europe.