Global Courant 2023-04-19 15:12:43
HONG KONG – Mocked by concerned observers from Washington to Brussels, French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent trip to China did not go down well with allies. But he left his hosts feeling elated.
Hundreds of cheering people lined up to greet Macron when he arrived in the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou this month as part of a high-profile state visit.
“He saw us and came over and shook our hands who were in the front row,” said Qiao Jiabao, a financial journalism student at Sun Yat-sen University, where Macron was speaking. “I found him to be very friendly and proactive, even though we didn’t speak the same language,” Qiao told NBC News.
He said he and friends joked that Macron, who faced massive protests in France over his unpopular plan to raise the retirement age, had been treated so well in China that he might not want to go home.
No sooner had Macron returned to France than he faced another storm of criticism, this time during an interview in which he suggested that Europe should oppose conflict over Taiwan and focus on “strategic autonomy” independent of both the United States and China. .
Macron was greeted by crowds when he visited and spoke at sites such as Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou earlier this month.Gonzalo Fuentes/AFP – Getty Images
His remarks sparked a furious backlash and raised concerns that Beijing would succeed in sowing divisions between the US and its allies as part of its push for a world where America must compete for dominance with multiple other powers.
But they were celebrated in China, where the state-backed nationalist tabloid Global Times said they “signaled a dead end for the US strategy to lure Europe into containing China.” Lu Shaye, the Chinese Ambassador to France, said Tuesday that Macron “spoke great truths” in the tradition of French independence.
“President Macron’s comments have had great resonance at the international level,” he said on Twitter.
The status of Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that Beijing claims as its territory, is the biggest sticking point in US-China relations. McCarthy’s meeting in California with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
“The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans should follow suit and adapt to the American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction,” Macron said. Politics and the French newspaper Les Echos when he flew back from China. “Why should we follow the pace chosen by others?”
Macron later clarified that France’s Taiwanese policy — recognizing Beijing as China’s sole legitimate government while maintaining unofficial relations with Taipei, the same policy as the US — had not changed. But he also defended his previous comments, saying Europe had the right to act independently.
Being an ally “does not mean you are a vassal,” he said at a press conference in Amsterdam last week.
The White House has downplayed Macron’s comments, saying it is “at ease and confident” in the US alliance with France, but they were heavily criticized by Republicans for underestimating the threat from China.
And Macron’s words still echoed as foreign ministers from the Group of 7 countries, including the United States and France, met in Karuizawa, Japan over the weekend. In a joint communiqué released Tuesday, the diplomats stressed unity when they said they recognized the importance of “open-hearted contacts” with China, the world’s second-largest economy, while cooperating on areas of common interest.
China’s foreign ministry said Tuesday that the G-7 statement “grossly interferes with China’s internal affairs” and that it had protested to Japan, which holds the group’s rotating presidency.
“The communiqué reflects the group’s arrogance, prejudice and deliberate desire to block and contain China,” spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news briefing.
Macron is among European leaders who have visited Beijing in recent months, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. But Chinese President Xi Jinping paid extra attention to the French President and personally traveled with him to Guangzhou.
Macron was warmly welcomed not only by Xi, but also by the Chinese public, who showered him with praise on social media.
Zhao Qing, who works in retail in eastern China, said Macron’s visit was a friendly sign and boosted China’s relations with France and other European countries.
“I had a good impression when my wife and I visited France before, and maybe I can go there again in the future,” he said.
