The Chinese president’s visit to Europe yielded little breakthrough on issues like trade and Ukraine. But it did show that Beijing prefers to work one-on-one to avoid collective opposition to its interests.
Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded a high-profile European tour on Friday amid concerns in Europe over Chinese support for Russia’s war in Ukraine and European markets being flooded with cheap Chinese electric vehicles.
Xi’s first visit to the region since 2019 also comes amid growing suspicions that China is seeking to take advantage of divisions in Europe. And analysts pointed out that Xi’s itinerary was no coincidence.
Bertram Lang, a research associate at Goethe University in Frankfurt who specializes in China’s foreign policy, said that the countries on Xi’s tour — France, Serbia and Hungary — all have “special bilateral relationships” with Beijing.
Lang added that the Chinese leadership has gradually divided Europe into two groups, “those friendly and unfriendly to China.” And this trip aimed to emphasize relationships with the former.
France is one of the pillars the EU is built upon. Calling it a 2nd tier nation just makes no sense at all.
Yeah ok, I need to explain my thinking a bit.
Visiting France only, then two client states, drags France down to the level of client state. Not the nation itself of course but it makes the visit look uninportant.
Why not Germany? Why visit the EU and only one of France and germany? Sure France is important but the way this has been done by China doesn’t give the appearance of a country seriously engaging with the global stage. It looks like they popped into France on the way to some friends. Or deliberately chose one of France and Germany to try and stir something.
Overall not a serious visit showing “disunity in Europe” but a poor attempt at stirring trouble and revealing how little china cares about anyone it can’t just buy and bully into obedience.
It’s in the article: The expert said that the visited nations have special bilateral relations with the PRC. Germany doesn’t like china.