A Look At China-France Relations Following Emmanuel Macron's Visit to China

CGTN Europe

CGTN Europe spoke to French journalist and commentator Anne-Elisabeth Moutet.

Transcript

00:00Anne-Elisabeth Moutet is a French journalist and commentator. Welcome back, good to see you.

00:05This is Macron's fourth visit to China. Just how important is the relationship with Beijing for the French president?

00:13It is hugely important because France sees herself, and that's since the time of General de Gaulle,

00:21as a unique partner for China, as being a very keen or strategic independence, as being a member of the EU and of NATO,

00:32but at the same time having a singular French defense, foreign and nuclear policy.

00:40And the idea that it could have, because of all relations, of a strategic relationship with China,

00:46is both important in the symbolic area, in the international area, and also in terms of trade.

00:51China is France's largest trader in Asia. The bilateral trade is now almost $80 billion in 2024.

00:59It's growing a bit. There's a French trade deficit, and therefore we also want to explain to China

01:05that there should be more Chinese investment in France.

01:09We have orders of anything from nuclear plants to our aerospace.

01:16And the relationship between President Xi and Macron is very good.

01:22President Macron has hosted a President Xi in his childhood home in the mountains of the Pyrenees, for instance.

01:28He hasn't done this for, I think, any other foreign leader.

01:30It's something that has been fostered since General de Gaulle went to China in the 60s.

01:38And I think it's of great importance, especially at a time of international uncertainty.

01:44And how useful, how helpful are these face-to-face meetings as opposed to diplomacy done by Zoom?

01:52Oh, it's, in any case, but especially in this one, the entire sort of, the personal touch,

02:01first of all, it's something that Emmanuel Macron always feels.

02:05He likes knowing people. He likes meeting them.

02:08It was a state visit where he came with his wife.

02:12There's the soft diplomacy and people talk about pandas,

02:14but there's a general sort of feeling that you only show your country at best to somebody

02:20when he can take them and see both the space in a country like China and the depth of the culture.

02:28So all of this is important.

02:30And Emmanuel Macron is somebody who has worked with good translators.

02:34He's been very keen on this.

02:35And so the personal relationship actually is achievable.

02:38Can France really have a relationship with China that is separate to the EU's relationship with China,

02:47on trade in particular?

02:50It's, well, it can have a separate, a different relationship,

02:55but it's, I would say, it's additional more than separate

02:58because Macron is equally somebody who has pushed the European idea

03:02from his first victorious electoral campaign in 2017.

03:06He gave a five-hour talk and debate at the Sorbonne in 2018,

03:12outlining his plan for Europe, which is strategic autonomy for Europe,

03:16with France at the heart of it, but as Europe.

03:19So there are other areas of disagreement.

03:22There are areas of disagreement on Ukraine,

03:24where Emmanuel Macron wanted more than the non-interference that President Xi,

03:28I think, sort of gave him, so to speak.

03:31It's the same thing on trade is certainly a problem we have in balance.

03:36We had problems with the Chinese retailers of clothes in France,

03:43with not just tariffs, but limitations being imposed on China, for instance.

03:49But overall, do you have cooperation in large areas like the nuclear, like aerospace,

03:53like getting Chinese students in France and French students in China?

03:57The number of Chinese students is the second in France, it's about 10,000.

04:02It's the second largest after Morocco,

04:06and Morocco had a historic relationship with France since the 19th century.

04:11So overall, I would say that it does have an effect.

04:15Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, thank you very much indeed.

04:17Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, the French journalist and commentator in Paris.

04:20Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, the French journalist and commentator in Paris.

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