French president Emmanuel Macron on Monday began his first state visit to China in Xian, a key city in China’s “Belt and Road” project, saying Europe and China should work together on the modern-day Silk Road initiative.
During his three-day trip, Mr Macron will position himself very much as the face of Europe, and aim to balance the need to boost trade with the world’s second biggest economy with his calls for a more stringent approach to investment from China into Europe.
In a French take on “panda diplomacy” – China’s policy of gifting pandas to foreign governments – Mr Macron is giving President Xi Jinping a seven-year-old horse from the presidential cavalry corps called Vesuvius.
“Our destinies are linked,” Mr Macron said. “The future needs France, Europe and China. We are the world’s memory. It is up to us to decide to be the future,” Mr Macron said in an hour-and-a-quarter long speech in Xian, the city where the Silk Road began.
Mr Macron’s talks with the Chinese leadership are expected to encompass a broad range of subjects include trade, climate change, global terrorism and the digital economy.
The €1 trillion Belt and Road infrastructure initiative is the brainchild of Mr Xi and is aimed at reviving the ancient Silk Road trade route and increasing Chinese influence in the region by connecting China by land and sea across Central Asia, Pakistan and Southeast Asia, and further to the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
