Xi Jinping and Emmanuel Macron are set to hold talks on Monday, with trade tensions shaping up to be a central theme of the Chinese president’s first trip to Europe in five years.
Ahead of the state visit, in which the Chinese leader is expected to dine with his French counterpart on Monday evening at the élysée Palace before visiting the Pyrenees on Tuesday, Xi held out the prospect of greater access to China’s market for French exports such as cosmetics and agricultural goods.
“We welcome more quality French farm products and cosmetics to the Chinese market to meet the ever-growing needs of the Chinese people for a better life,” Xi wrote in a signed article in French newspaper Le Figaro that was reprinted in English by the Communist party mouthpiece People’s Daily.