{"id":692866,"date":"2023-04-11T17:40:18","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T00:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=692866"},"modified":"2023-04-28T12:16:02","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T19:16:02","slug":"macrons-beijing-trip-reinforces-sino-franco-ties-alienates-u-s-worries-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2023\/04\/macrons-beijing-trip-reinforces-sino-franco-ties-alienates-u-s-worries-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Macron\u2019s Beijing Trip Reinforces Sino-Franco Ties, Alienates U.S., Worries Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron <\/span>fled<\/span><\/a> a protest-rattled Paris and traveled to Beijing for a high-profile visit with General Secretary Xi Jinping. One of Macron’s main stated <\/span>objectives<\/span><\/a> was to ensure that China plays a constructive role in global efforts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine. He also intended to shore up economic and cultural ties with China, with help from an <\/span>80-person<\/span><\/a> delegation<\/span><\/a>, 53 of whom were business representatives. But his success in bolstering Sino-Franco ties came at the expense of French allies, many of whom <\/span>criticized<\/span><\/a> Macron for a hypocritical and poorly timed rapprochement. At The Financial Times, Leila Abboud, Sarah White, Henry Foy, and Demetri Sevastopulo described how <\/span>Macron\u2019s remarks sparked an international backlash<\/strong><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

French president Emmanuel Macron has come under fire for saying that Europe should distance itself from brewing tensions between the US and China over Taiwan, and forge its own strategic independence on everything from energy to defence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Diplomats and lawmakers in the US and in central and eastern Europe slammed Macron for being soft on Beijing and worryingly critical of the US, especially given that Washington has been a staunch backer of Europe as it deals with the fallout from Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. Analysts found the comments particularly ill-timed with China carrying out large-scale military drills in the straits of Taiwan in response to the Taiwanese president\u2019s visit to the US last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

[…] Two senior EU diplomats said Macron\u2019s comments would hurt both Europe and Ukraine\u2019s relationship with the US, and make it harder for the EU to forge a united position towards Beijing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not a win for anybody,\u201d said one of the diplomats. \u201cExcept Xi.\u201d [<\/span>Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Criticism against Macron was compounded by controversial remarks from an interview he gave at the end of his trip, in which he described Europe\u2019s need for strategic autonomy in the context of the escalating U.S.-China rivalry. Reporters from Politico and two French outlets, Les Echos and France Inter, were among those present. Les Echos published a <\/span>long Q&A version<\/span><\/a> of the interview in French, and an hour and a half later Politico published its own version in both <\/span>French<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>English<\/span><\/a>, which was largely the authors\u2019 analysis of Macron\u2019s positions sprinkled with several quotes from the interview. Politico attached an editorial paragraph stating that \u201csome parts of the interview in which the president spoke even more frankly about Taiwan and Europe\u2019s strategic autonomy were cut out by the Elys\u00e9e (the French presidency).” In a preface to his interview in Les Echos, Nicholas Barr\u00e9 provided <\/span>a summary of Macron\u2019s statements<\/strong><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor too long Europe has not built this strategic autonomy. Today, the ideological battle has been won,\u201d claimed Emmanuel Macron in an interview with Les Echos. But we must now implement this strategy. \u201cThe trap for Europe would be that at the moment when it reaches a clarification of its strategic position, it gets caught in a world disruption and crises that are not our own.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For the French President, strategic autonomy is crucial to preventing European states from becoming \u201cvassals,\u201d when Europe could instead be \u201cthe third pole\u201d with respect to the United States and China. \u201cWe do not want to fall into a mindset of bloc confrontation,\u201d added the Head of State, who also spoke out against \u201cthe extraterritoriality of the dollar.\u201d \u201cHistory is accelerating, and in parallel we need a simultaneous acceleration of the European war economy,\u201d insisted the French President. [<\/span>French<\/strong><\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

An onslaught of negative reactions ensued, almost all of which referenced the Politico article. However, some French commentators <\/span>argued<\/span><\/a> that the Politico article took Macron\u2019s quotes out of context, which had the effect of <\/span>sensationalizing<\/span><\/a> his position to further incite American audiences, and <\/span>noted<\/span><\/a> that Macron\u2019s comments on Europe\u2019s strategic autonomy were largely a continuation of his long-held position on the matter. Moreover, some of Macron\u2019s quotes in Politico\u2019s article did not appear in the longer version of the interview from Les Echos.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reactions to Macron\u2019s performance were especially heated due to China\u2019s new round of <\/span>military exercises<\/span><\/a> around Taiwan, initiated shortly after Macron\u2019s departure, in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen\u2019s concurrent trip to the U.S. It did not help that Macron had appeared to abdicate responsibility for Taiwan\u2019s defense in comments made to a reporter just days earlier: \u201c<\/span>I am neither Taiwan nor the United States of America<\/span><\/a>. As a good stoic, I can only address what depends on me. […] We must not mix everything together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Xi rolled out the red carpet\u2014<\/span>literally<\/span><\/a> and figuratively\u2014for Macron\u2019s arrival. Outside of their formal meetings, the two heads of state spent time <\/span>strolling<\/span><\/a> through a park, <\/span>sipping<\/span><\/a> tea, and <\/span>listening<\/span><\/a> to a musician play the <\/span>guqin<\/span><\/em>, a Chinese string instrument. Xi called Macron his \u201c<\/span>bosom friend<\/span><\/a>.\u201d In Guangzhou, Macron was greeted like a rock star by a swarm of enthusiastic students for a brief <\/span>lecture and Q&A<\/span><\/a> at Sun Yat-sen University, where he encouraged students to cultivate a \u201ccritical mind,\u201d without which they would be \u201cnot totally free\u201d and \u201csimply an object of propaganda.\u201d While Macron was eager to sway Xi through their personal connection, conversely Xi seemed to have successfully charmed Macron, who gushed, \u201c[The] personal time Xi is devoting to the visit <\/span>shows that France is not considered to be a country like any other<\/span><\/a>.\u201d Former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a member of Macron\u2019s delegation, agreed that Xi\u2019s charm was having an effect: \u201c<\/span>Isn’t diplomacy, at one point or another, a bit of flattery?<\/span><\/a>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Accompanying Macron was Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission. Her presence, requested by the \u00c9lys\u00e9e, was meant to demonstrate a united European front. It was also meant to convey some thornier messages to Xi, particularly regarding Europe\u2019s <\/span>growing resolve<\/span><\/a> to \u201cde-risk\u201d from China, which von der Leyen <\/span>articulated<\/span><\/a> in a speech the week prior. Some analysts expected the duo to play <\/span>good cop\/bad cop<\/span><\/a>, while others <\/span>argued<\/span><\/a> that their performance was not closely coordinated enough to merit such a description. The relative lack of pomp and facetime with Xi for von der Leyen was seen by some as an embarrassing rebuke, while others <\/span>insisted<\/span><\/a> that she knew what she was getting into and successfully delivered the message to a resistant recipient.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps as expected, there were no major victories for team Europe. The <\/span>joint declaration<\/span><\/a> published at the end of Macron\u2019s trip demonstrated \u201c<\/span>limited gains, at the cost of European and transatlantic coherence<\/span><\/a>,\u201d wrote Mathieu Duch\u00e2tel, a French policy analyst at the Institut Montaigne. At the bilateral level, France and China agreed to <\/span>strengthen cooperation<\/span><\/a> in aviation, aerospace, nuclear energy, and combating climate change. France also secured numerous <\/span>economic deals<\/span><\/a> for Airbus, L\u2019Oreal, EDF, and other companies. Finbarr Bermingham from the South China Morning Post noted that <\/span>there was little progress on China\u2019s plan to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine<\/strong><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

France will work with China on thorny issues ranging from 5G technology to military engagement after President Emmanuel Macron signed a sweeping 51-point joint declaration on his last day in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

[…] It did not contain a concrete commitment from Beijing to use its influence over Russia to end its 14-month war against Ukraine \u2013 a key Macron request \u2013 even as it pledged to \u201csupport all efforts to restore peace in Ukraine\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, the statement reiterated Xi\u2019s oft-stated opposition to nuclear war. The two sides said they opposed \u201carmed attacks on nuclear power plants\u201d, mentioning the Zaporizhzhia facility in Ukraine that has been occupied by Russian forces.<\/span><\/p>\n

[…T]he document reflected Macron\u2019s desire to secure more of the giant Chinese market for France\u2019s firms at a time when voices elsewhere in the European Union and particularly in the United States are calling for more mindful trading ties that roll back dependencies on China. [<\/span>Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many European commentators struggled to discern <\/span>what was driving French policy<\/span><\/a>, given Macron\u2019s coziness with Xi, and a strong backlash ensued. In Germany, <\/span>media outlets<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Francophile editors<\/span><\/a> criticized Macron\u2019s visit. Reinhard Butik\u00f6fer, a member of the European Parliament who chairs its China delegation, described Macron\u2019s China visit as a \u201c<\/span>complete disaster<\/span><\/a>,\u201d and Macron\u2019s \u201cpipe dream\u201d of EU strategic autonomy and becoming a \u201cthird superpower\u201d as \u201cbeyond the pale.\u201d The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China stated that \u201c<\/span>Macron doesn\u2019t speak for Europe<\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With Sino-U.S. tensions escalating, American media and political actors were appalled by Macron’s comments. The New York Times declared, \u201c<\/span>French Diplomacy Undercuts U.S. Efforts to Rein China In<\/span><\/a>,\u201d and U.S. Republican lawmakers publicly <\/span>called out<\/span><\/a> Macron. On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal published a <\/span>scathing editorial against the French president<\/strong><\/a>:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Emmanuel Macron fancies himself a Charles de Gaulle for the 21st century, which includes distancing Europe from the U.S. But the French President picked a terrible moment this weekend for a Gaullist afflatus following his meeting with Chinese Communist Party chief Xi Jinping.<\/span><\/p>\n

[…] Mr. Macron wants the U.S. to ride to Europe\u2019s rescue against Russian aggression but apparently take a vow of neutrality against Chinese aggression in the Pacific. Thanks a lot, mate. His unhelpful comments will undermine U.S. and Japanese deterrence against China in the Western Pacific while encouraging U.S. politicians who want to reduce U.S. commitments in Europe to better resist China.<\/span><\/p>\n

[…] If President Biden is awake, he ought to call Mr. Macron and ask if he\u2019s trying to re-elect Donald Trump. [<\/span>Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Worried about the international uproar, French government officials took to Twitter to try to <\/span>control the damage<\/span><\/a> by <\/span>defending<\/span><\/a> the president\u2019s statements. In France, a Le Monde <\/span>editorial<\/span><\/a> described it as \u201ca difficult but useful dialogue\u201d and \u201cnecessary to re-engage the relationship with Beijing,\u201d but the newspaper diluted its position in a subsequent <\/span>editorial<\/span><\/a> calling Macron\u2019s statements \u201cproblematic.\u201d France Inter agreed with Macron on substance, but <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> that given the timing, \u201che clearly would have been better off staying quiet.\u201d One French lawmaker called Macron\u2019s performance \u201c<\/span>incomprehensible<\/span><\/a>,\u201d and another dubbed it \u201c<\/span>pathetic<\/span><\/a>.\u201d Several prominent French analysts expressed strong criticism. In an interview with Franceinfo, lead China researcher at the French Institute of International Relations Marc Julienne described Macron\u2019s visit as <\/span>\u201ca failure on the diplomatic scene, costly in terms of image\u201d<\/strong><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: Didn\u2019t the French president also try to embody a \u201cthird way\u201d between the United States and China?<\/span><\/p>\n

A: There is much talk about this third way, indeed. But this can be interpreted as an equidistance of France between the United States and China and this position lacks clarity. Emmanuel Macron spends a lot of time marking his non-alignment with the United States. It’s a good thing, but it’s easier to tell them the truth, because they are our allies. The problem is that the French president does not do the same with China. We must be just as frank, even severe, with Beijing. Issues of contention should not be swept under the rug. [<\/span>French<\/strong><\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Xi-Macron declaration : some joint hypocrisy beyond the pale (both countries to promote and respect human rights). Was it really necessary? A French gain in getting the Zaporizhya nuclear plant explicitly mentioned. Several Chinese gains https:\/\/t.co\/Ms4o5LKpIB<\/a> THREAD follows<\/p>\n

— Fran\u00e7ois Godement (@FGodement) April 7, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n