Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00 Let's begin, let's go live to Les Invalides, one of the most important
00:06 complexes in France. In fact we won't start with live images, I believe those
00:10 live image associated from Reuters have just gone off screen, suggesting the two
00:16 men are now meeting at the Lycée Palace. We are looking at images though from just
00:20 a short while ago. The visit this is of President Xi, the first in five years
00:24 here in Paris alongside President Macron. Pomp, ceremony and well, tough
00:32 trade talks and tough talks on war as well because well China seen as a key
00:38 partner of Russia, talks about an old holds barred relationship between the two
00:42 countries in the last two years. Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission chief
00:46 who met with both the talks earlier said well China can have a big role in
00:53 influencing Russia to end the war in Ukraine. Well let's hear first from what
00:59 the Chinese president had to say a short while ago.
01:03 The world today has entered a new period of turbulence and change. As two
01:10 important forces in the world, China and the EU should remain partners, adhere to
01:16 dialogue and cooperation, deepen strategic communication, enhance
01:22 strategic mutual trust, build strategic consensus and carry out strategic
01:28 coordination so as to promote the steady and sound development of China-EU
01:34 relations and make constantly new contributions to world peace and
01:39 development. Okay so statement that sounds like all sweetness and cherry pie
01:45 but behind it as I mentioned the Ukraine conflict and also EU concern that China
01:49 is allegedly dumping cheap subsidies of electric vehicles in Europe. Let's get
01:53 the context with that and the visit itself and bring in our reporter James
01:56 Andre who's a seasoned Macron watcher and has been watching developments today.
02:01 James good to see you, good to talk to you. Bring us up to date first with the
02:05 notable moments of the day.
02:09 As well indeed the ceremony has taken place at the Invalides. That was just
02:15 moments ago it started around 3 p.m. and now both leaders are inside the Elysee
02:18 Palace having a bilateral talk. Now this is a restrained one with only a few
02:24 people in the room. There'll be a larger one with the delegations just afterwards
02:28 before the two men head off to the economic forum that's taking place at
02:32 the Marini Theatre which is right next door to here. You know trade that has
02:36 been really one of the big central pieces of these discussions this morning
02:42 with indeed Ursula von der Leyen who is present this morning for more European
02:46 page of these talks and discussions very much around the problems of according to
02:53 Europe, China dumping electric vehicles, batteries because indeed China's economy
02:58 right now is slowing down. There is an overproduction and here in Europe well
03:02 the leaders are very worried that indeed this might destroy the auto industry and
03:08 indeed China also retaliating with some inquiries into dumping there as well of
03:16 brandy on its market as a retaliation move quite clearly squared at France in
03:23 this specific case but clearly yes tough discussions when it comes to trade
03:27 ongoing today and also Ukraine. Trade matters James. We would talk about
03:32 the dumping of electric vehicles. This is a market where China wants to dominate.
03:37 Go back a few days we had Elon Musk the Tesla chief in Beijing asking for data
03:41 details plans so it can allow it to use Tesla elsewhere but China wants
03:46 something in return and we should also say that China isn't just looking at
03:50 France in this state visit it's heading also Xi Jinping to Hungary to Serbia
03:55 notably one of its key well only European electric car production plants
04:01 is in Hungary. Yes it is well there is a there's also a Chinese plant planned in
04:09 Spain but yes what the French would like is to see some Chinese investment here
04:13 in France but as it's been explained here to us by the Elisee Palace what we
04:17 want is what is requested by the French to the Chinese is some high-level
04:23 production some things which would be cutting-edge technologically that could
04:27 indeed help out France when it comes to its transition to a low-carbon economy
04:32 and this of course is very much a problem because yes France wants to
04:35 equip itself with many solar panels but also solar electric producing windmills
04:41 and that is also a market where according to the EU regulators well
04:44 there is Chinese dumping so very much the question of protecting this European
04:49 industry at a time where yes you know as you were saying in China now well BYD
04:53 which is one of its main car manufacturers is you know the largest
04:56 electric car manufacturer in the world as it's overtaken Tesla indeed on
05:00 battery technology well the Chinese are very much cutting-edge all these
05:04 specific domains where well the European industry wants to develop and as you
05:09 were pointing out yes Hungary indeed there will be a visit after this one and
05:12 Serbia as well countries that are not as much as France you know at the core of
05:17 the EU Serbia which is openly pro-russian so of course this also sends
05:21 mixed messages really interesting James if you can stay with us because when I
05:25 keep across developments I also want to bring in Jean-Maurice Ripert former
05:29 French ambassador to China great to have you on France 24 this moment and let's
05:35 start Jean-Maurice with your take your assessment and what's going on right now
05:40 what's in it you think for China and what do the French want to get out of
05:44 this I think it's a very critical moment I think we have to stress that China is
05:53 at a moment where they will at one moment have some choices to make which
05:59 could be slightly different from the ones they have made before I think one
06:04 of the objective of the French president and of the chairwoman of the Commission
06:09 is to try to make China and Xi Jinping understand that he's wrong in his
06:17 support to Russia in Ukraine especially with the armament assistance that will
06:24 create more and more insecurity in Europe and this is something we take
06:29 very seriously I'm not totally sure that the leadership in China has understood
06:34 fully the range of fear and of the European people in facing the aggression
06:41 of Russia against Ukraine and the determination the new determination of
06:47 the Europeans to face that and to fight I think China was used to some kind of
06:52 benevolent attitude of the European Union countries all trying to benefit
06:58 from the from the gigantic Chinese markets and they have to understand that
07:02 everything has a cost and it cannot continue as it was before that there is
07:08 no more business as usual with China possible with all the violation of the
07:13 WTO rules and the fact that China we have to build this strategic autonomy of
07:19 the European Union which China should not be afraid of because these are the
07:25 conditions for us to become a real partner to China. I should set some
07:29 context because we'll talk at the moment about trade you mentioned this this key
07:32 issue here now this goes back to this is Xinjiang this is an area in China where
07:37 it's become well 18 million people there it's now the tech industry hub the BYD
07:41 is the big Chinese electric car manufacturer they were a mobile battery
07:46 company and now they are the dominant force in most of the world but is there
07:50 a question here about perhaps Europe almost inadvertently enhancing China's
07:55 ability because the great irony in Europe is you know the setting of free
07:58 market rules stopping of you know the arms race of government subsidies and
08:02 yet the idea of a level playing field that China can come in and there aren't
08:06 these you know rules with free market on cars they've got a plant in Hungary so
08:12 they can actually deploy from Hungary and actually sell from Hungary at the
08:15 same time they are heavily subsidizing their use so it's a serious issue as you
08:20 say which could see ultimately European manufacturers electric vehicle companies
08:25 massively losing out. I mean you know I'm an old person and for 50 years I hear
08:32 people explaining to me that in any case European Union is weak and we lose in
08:36 face of this or that I don't believe that for a moment. European Union is a
08:41 very complex innovation in terms of organization in the world and everything
08:48 takes time. What is important right now is that we have collectively made the
08:53 decision to make a turn into to make it a turning point and to organize ourselves
08:58 it will take a few years of course but China has to understand that we will not
09:02 renounce. This is why we have decided to be able to string the investments that
09:07 we are ready to tax whatever imports that seems to us unfair compared to the
09:13 rules of WTO. Don't forget that China needs the European Union market I mean
09:18 it's a market of what 500 million inhabitants? Including the UK yeah if you're outside of the
09:25 370 plus UK and a few others yes. The European Union is the first economic and
09:32 trade partner of China yeah and by the way also of the US and was it was the
09:38 case for Russia before the war. So I mean European the Europeans have just to
09:43 trust themselves and to start moving on slowly as usual but steadily. I think
09:50 the message that Macron and Mrs. von der Leyen wants to pass to Xi Jinping is that we
09:55 have started to go this way and we will not stop. I want to ask you a brief last
10:00 question about tech and I want to ask you about Ukraine and I say this because
10:04 our former intelligence chief and this brings it home to France 24 viewers the
10:08 importance here he said this is the defining national security issue.
10:13 High-tech chips, silicon chips that will define our future do you agree? I agree
10:18 and we have to recognize that in terms of very high-level technology we are
10:24 lagging behind the Americans so as is China by the way. This is the problem of
10:30 China in a way we are also competitors and rival in terms of the highest degree
10:36 of technology. We are too dependent from the American technology and China tries
10:43 to find partners to build some high-level technology. We need to do the
10:48 same and we need to do the same as Europeans and yeah as Europeans. You've
10:55 been a you know as former ambassador you've seen how China works often plays
11:00 the long game in terms of strategy geopolitically do you think on Ukraine
11:05 Emmanuel Macron talking about influencing the Russians realistically can have any
11:11 impact? We can hope that they will understand once again that arming Russia
11:18 is getting them nowhere because Russia will not win its war in Ukraine. They
11:25 have to understand that this is possible to hope that China will assist if I may
11:33 say so European efforts to convince the Russian to go back home why not I've
11:39 doubts but it's worth trying. Jean-Marie let's bring in James Andre who just
11:45 listening to you there our reporter at the Elysée. James talk us through the
11:50 personal relationship the importance of that and the two men off to the the
11:55 Pyrenees tomorrow and perhaps maybe personal politics could make a
11:58 difference. Yes well this is what's being hoped for here at the Elysée Palace
12:06 and that's what we were told before this meeting is that this sequence in the
12:09 Pyrenees is very much for both men to have time together without all the
12:13 protocol around them without all their entourage where they can really just
12:17 talk as men one to another and what's at stake here and what's you know the
12:23 message that Emmanuel Macron is expected to convey is the fact that yes Ukraine
12:28 is a key issue for the Europeans and for the French that it is of national
12:32 security importance that it is something that the French and Europeans will not
12:36 be giving up on and what he's trying to achieve indeed is for Xi Jinping to take
12:41 a very firm engagement as to not sending weapons to Russia but also not letting
12:48 its companies China export goods that can be used on the battlefield so we're
12:52 talking what we're talking drones we're talking detection systems we're also
12:55 talking about some heavy production tools such as machine tools to produce
13:01 armament that right now are being indeed according to the Elysée and to the
13:06 European Union shipped to Russia trade between Russia and the and China has
13:12 leaped 25% last year so that goes to show how much exchanges there are
13:17 between both countries and yes indeed teaching pin can speak and have some
13:23 influence on the Vladimir Putin the Russian president the question is will
13:28 he want to speak to him that's obviously is not very obvious now we have spoken
13:32 to people here at the Elysée Palace who tell us look the idea is to put the idea
13:36 in his head to show that the European Union and France are determined when it
13:40 comes to Ukraine and they hope that that will have some impact at an important
13:45 stage maybe later down later down the line but in 2000 I mean last time both
13:50 men met teaching pin and Emmanuel Macron well teaching ping did speak on the
13:55 phone to Vladimir Zelensky the Ukrainian president who got a chance to air his
14:00 concerns as to the situation and us for Chinese help we'll see if there is for
14:04 example a new contact between those two leaders in days to come
14:07 James Andre thank you for the context Jean-Marie's final question to you a lot
14:12 of people might want to know is he personable how easy is he to know
14:16 President Xi and do they have any personal rapport from last time between
14:19 him and Emmanuel Macron I can confirm to you that it's very difficult to know who
14:24 in reality is CGP I think you know those private meetings and dinners with
14:31 spouses and everything are very good and it's a tradition now but don't hope too
14:36 much from this specific event within the the visit I think what is very important
14:41 to the Chinese exactly what to what James said you have to show that you are
14:46 steady you are standing firm on your values and on the direction you want to
14:51 take the message has to pass to CGP and he has to understand that we will not
14:56 change the course we have decided to follow within the European Union for
15:02 support to Ukraine no war Russia has to go back home and China should think
15:08 twice in arming Russia in a war that Russia will not win so it has to be
15:15 repeated as often as possible and I agree with James on another it's very
15:20 important to start talking with the CGP it will take time perhaps to infuse a
15:25 little bit within his mind with his decision-making own making decision
15:30 making process but one day I think he will he will remember what has been said
15:35 in Europe to him Jean-Maurice pleasure to talk to you here on France 24 Jean-Maurice
15:40 Ripert former French ambassador to China