What China’s Xi and France’s Macron discussed in Beijing
BEIJING, CHINA – DECEMBER 3: French President Emmanuel Macron (R) and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk during a state visit at the Great Hall of the People on December 3, 2025 in Beijing, China.
Adek Berry-Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images
China is open to importing more goods from France in exchange for a “fair and favorable environment” for Chinese businesses in the European country, President Xi Jinping told his counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Thursday when they met in Beijing.
The French president kicked off a 3-day visit to China on Wednesday, his first visit to Beijing in more than two years, following growing friction over a range of issues including the trade imbalance and the long-running war in Ukraine.
Making a separate statement from the French government, Macron told Xi that the two countries should work together on the basis of a “balanced relationship” and called on Beijing to help end the Russia-Ukraine war.
Macron said he welcomed Beijing’s “renewed willingness to facilitate access to the Chinese market for French products, especially agricultural products,” including wine, pork, poultry and beef, according to a French Google translation of the statement.
Macron said the countries will try to create a framework that allows China to increase direct investments in Europe, especially in France, where it will create more jobs.
According to the statement, the two leaders also signed many agreements covering energy, agriculture, education and environment. Official statement from Chinese state mediaHe did not provide detailed information about the agreed terms.
Xi also called for deepening bilateral cooperation in the aviation, nuclear energy, digital economy, biopharmaceutical and artificial intelligence sectors.
Daniel Balazs, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said the reading reflected Paris’s “ambition to be a stabilizing force in EU-China relations”, noting that the EU’s broader aim would be to maintain constructive ties with China despite repeated frictions.
“Good relations with France also enable China to have friends within the EU when Brussels makes economic and political decisions that affect China’s interests,” Balazs said. he said.
Tensions between Beijing and Paris escalated last year when Macron backed the European Union’s decision to impose tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, and Beijing retaliated by imposing a minimum price requirement on French cognac producers.
Macron is expected to lobby the Chinese leader not to impose similar measures on French pork and dairy products, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday; as Beijing weighed these duties in response to taxes on electric vehicles.
Macron had also pushed Brussels to respond with the harshest trade measures against China after Beijing restricted rare earth exports, triggering concerns of supply shortages at European automakers.
The bilateral meeting took place at a time when Beijing was engaged in a diplomatic row with Japan over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s statement signaling that China’s invasion of Taiwan could draw a military response from Japan.
Without naming the democratically governed island, China said Macron had accepted the “one-China policy”, a diplomatic term commonly used to designate Taiwan as part of China. In the statement made by the French government, Taiwan was not mentioned within the scope of the discussion.
On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot that he hoped Paris would move on. “understand and support China’s legitimate stance” and prevents Japan from “causing trouble” regarding Taiwan.
Xi-Macron meeting “provides platform for high-level engagement” [but] Whether the problems can be resolved is another question,” said Tianchen Xu, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit.
trade, ukraine, panda
The main purpose of Macron’s visit was expected to be to address what he called “global imbalances”, including overproduction in China and Beijing’s dependence on exports, which he said was leading to a global trade imbalance. France’s trade balance with China stood at approximately 20 billion euros (approximately 23 billion dollars) in 2024.
“Macron could float the idea of a partnership of equals with Xi Jinping. This would include opening China’s broader market to European companies and possibly paving the way for some joint ventures in Europe in non-very sensitive areas,” said Philippe Le Corre, senior researcher on foreign policy at the New York-based Center for China Analysis.
As the two presidents exchanged views on the Ukraine war, Xi said China “will continue to play a constructive role in resolving the conflict and support European countries for a balanced, effective and sustainable security framework.”
Macron has long called on Xi to use his influence with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
“I hope that China will join our call and our efforts to achieve a ceasefire as soon as possible, at least in the form of a moratorium on attacks targeting critical infrastructure,” Macron said in a statement. he said.
CCA’s Le Corre said the trip offered a rare chance to convey Paris’s views on Ukraine to the Chinese leadership, which has been Russia’s “all-weather partner,” especially since the war began in 2022.
After the official talks in Beijing, the two leaders will go to Chengdu, the southwestern city where China’s giant panda breeding center is located. France returned last month A pair of pandas loaned to the Chinese Their arrival in the city after 13 years was hailed as a sign of warming diplomatic relations.
The Chinese embassy promised that the new pandas would be sent to France soon. Emphasizing the increase of cultural exchange between the two countries, Xi said that China and France reached a common agreement. New agreement on panda protection.
— CNBC’s Charlotte Reed contributed to this story.
