The French and the Chinese are brothers forever. What Macron brought from Sy

11.04.2023 0 By NS.Writer

The President of France is again actively playing on the topic of "strategic autonomy" of Europe from the USA, пишет Vladyslav Girman, an observer of the international policy department of "DS".

French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping

European leaders and officials became noticeably more active in the Chinese direction. Thus, at the beginning of February, the Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz visited the People's Republic of China, on March 31 - the Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez, on April 6-7 - the President of France Emmanuel Macron and the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and soon, on April 13-15, in China EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell will arrive.

One of the top topics of these trips to the People's Republic of China is, of course, the question of the relationship between China and Russia against the background of a full-scale war waged by the latter against Ukraine. And although Beijing diligently pretends that it does not support the war, does not provide military assistance to Russia, and generally follows "diplomatic channels", at the same time it is the last influential state that can be considered a partner of Russia and its ally in the rivalry with the United States for world domination.

Of course, Europe strives to prevent even greater rapprochement of these two countries. Because it can negatively affect the course of the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine.

This is the first aspect of the demand for the promotion of the EU in China, which in terms of relevance is inferior to the second, which arose after the visit of the President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, to Moscow at the end of March. We are talking about the decision of the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to place tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, a country that was interesting to China a few years ago as a window to Europe (but, it seems, has hopelessly lost this status). The announcement, made by Putin just a few days after talks with Xi, goes against the promises he made to the Chinese leader regarding nuclear weapons and nuclear blackmail.

And this, it is worth noting, after Beijing presented its rather emasculated and fresh "peace plan" for the end of the war, which in the current circumstances was a significant favor for the Kremlin.

At the same time, even if China's peace plan is insignificant in its essence and beneficial for us, Xi and the Chinese elite managed to get involved in the process one hundred percent and will push the European Union to search for common points of contact. And Beijing is also very interested in such contacts, as it avoids confrontation with Europe, whose markets are necessary for the recovery of the Chinese post-Covid economy and further strengthening in the international arena in the confrontation with the United States.

A bath of love and adoration

Despite the statements of the Ambassador of the PRC to the EU Fu Qing in an interview with The New York Times about China's non-support of the Russian war against Ukraine, the non-recognition of Crimea and other occupied territories by Russia, and the fact that the PRC does not provide the Russian Federation with military assistance, they should first of all be perceived as a definite political advance to Europeans on the eve of Macron and von der Leyen's visit to China, since Xi has not shown any intention to break or de-intensify relations with Moscow.

In fact, both Scholz and Sanchez, and even more so - because of the "peace plan" - Macron and von der Leyen have not yet achieved any success in trying to get Beijing to focus on the Ukrainian peace formula. But at least they declared their intention to continue — negotiate and negotiate, until the specifics of China's position are suddenly reached.

In this, again, the EU is also interested - because the PRC can potentially influence Russia; and in China - because of its need for European markets and the spread of its influence on Europe within the framework of the formation of an axis alternative to the American one.

However, it is also well known about the critical attitude of Brussels towards Chinese foreign and domestic policy.

This is best demonstrated by Borrell's statement on March 31 that Beijing cannot be a mediator in the peace process, because, as can be seen from the "peace plan", it does not "make a distinction between the aggressor and those who are attacked" and is "on one side" [with Russia].

Von der Leyen is also known for her critical attitude towards China and her commitment to NATO. Therefore, during her visit to China, before which she met with Macron in Paris, she seemed to play the role of an emissary from Brussels and, at the same time, an observer for Macron, so that he did not play tricks and forget about the consolidated position of the EU.

That is why the PRC had an appropriate attitude towards her - cool and even without involvement in some events in Beijing that Macron attended. And in general, the French president was given a warm reception. In addition to the official part, this is evident from, for example, his trip to the campus of the best university in South China — Sun Yat-sen University in the province of Guangzhou, where a crowd of pre-selected students awaited him, from which declarations of love were periodically heard, and inside there were even more selected students who asked the "correct" questions.

Then an extremely rare event happened — tea drinking with Xi in an informal atmosphere in one of the boarding houses in the vicinity of Guangzhou by a picturesque lake.

He tried with all his might to demonstrate to his guest his commitment and interest in further cooperation, he gave Macron a little popular love, which for the French president against the background of protests over the pension reform is an extremely scarce commodity.

At the same time, Macron, who is indeed a surprisingly charismatic and flexible leader, tried to charm Xi and incline him to a more favorable position for Europe regarding the war. But in principle it did not succeed. Unfortunately, the European leaders from China did not bring any loud statements, declarations, promises. It is only Macron's impression that he, it seems, managed to shake Xi's condescending attitude towards the Russian Federation.

At the same time, the leader of the PRC seems to have achieved a little more, given the interviews Macron gave to European media journalists while still on the plane. In it, Macron clearly campaigns against drawing Europe into a potential confrontation with China over Taiwan and for reducing dependence on the United States.

De-dependence, or the "strategic autonomy" of Europe, is one of Macron's favorite horses, on which he once enjoyed riding with Angela Merkel. And it continues today even after almost two years ago, Washington actually abandoned the traditional approach to holding an umbrella over the EU and supported this "strategic autonomy".

On the other hand, Russia's new invasion of Ukraine corrected the agreements of the end of 2021 and completely changed the dynamics of all similar processes, since a crisis of this scale requires the unity of allies. In this, it seems, Macron sees a threat to his old dreams of autonomy and a European army.

Therefore, Xi's bet on Macron's ambitions probably worked. The President of France today, as before (and during those "before" there were also mass protests in France), is trying to establish himself as the only (in the absence of Merkel) top leader of the EU, while he is focused on the victory of Ukraine. And if Macron gets even a hint of Beijing's willingness to put pressure on Russia somewhere, even with the poor efficiency of the PRC's actions, he will be able to present it as a victory and oppose himself to both the USA and other EU members.

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