Beijing has also signalled an increasing willingness to impose its own retaliatory tariffs. Macron is expected to take up with Xi the cause of French cognac makers, after China in January launched an anti-dumping investigation into French brandy imports.
French brandy is the most imported liquor into China and tariffs would hit the profits of famous brands such as Rémy Cointreau, Pernod Ricard and LVMH-owned Hennessy.
France’s cognac industry association, the BNIC, said Xi’s visit was “a unique opportunity for an agreement” to resolve an “unjustified” Chinese probe that threatened a sector that directly and indirectly employed about 70,000 people.
While the talks in Paris are expected to be challenging, Xi’s visits to Serbia and Hungary would strike a much more positive tone, Chinese officials said. China considers Hungary as a genuinely loyal friend in the EU and has been showering the country with investment promises.
According to official Chinese estimates, accumulated foreign direct investment by Chinese enterprises in Hungary could reach €30bn by the end of this year — suggesting several additional billions of euros in investment are in the pipeline.
One project under discussion is a potential investment by China’s Great Wall Motor to build an EV plant, Chinese officials said.
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“Hungary is greatly over-represented in Chinese FDI into the region, amassing more volume in the past two to three years than in the preceding decades,” said Daniel Hegedüs at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin.
“This is politics. Hungary has been loyal and reaps the rewards,” Hegedüs said.
But Xi’s visit to Hungary is sure to antagonise many leaders in western Europe. “Hungary is considered a pariah,” said one senior western European diplomat.
Even as the EU increasingly views China as a “systemic rival”, Hungary has become the main defender of Beijing’s interests. Between 2016 and 2022, it had used its veto power on several occasions to block European Council decisions condemning Chinese actions.
In addition, Xi’s visit to Serbia on Tuesday, the 25th anniversary of Nato’s accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, could also alienate opinion in western Europe, the diplomats said.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Chinese mission to the EU cited the 1999 bombing to explain Chinese sympathy for Russia’s argument that the western military alliance was responsible for the more recent conflict.
“Chinese people can fully relate to the pains and sufferings of other countries because we will never forget who had bombed our embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,” a spokesperson for the mission said.
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Indeed, the Ukraine war is set to loom large over Xi’s Europe trip.
Chinese academics said Beijing viewed the US as using the war to extend its hegemony over Europe, while putting pressure on China for its alleged role in supporting Russia.
They said Chinese leaders believed Macron wanted Europe to exercise more strategic autonomy from the US, an aspiration Beijing shared. However, Xi’s friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin means that anything he says about Ukraine will be viewed with deep distrust in much of Europe.
Still, Macron is expected to try to convince the Chinese leader to use his influence with Putin to change the course of the war, even though similar efforts during a visit to China last year did not bear fruit.
“Our aim is to encourage China to use the levers at its disposal with Moscow to influence Russia’s calculations and try and contribute to a resolution of this conflict,” an Élysée official said.
Additional reporting by William Langley in Hong Kong
Source link : https://www.ft.com/content/06bb3979-be32-42ce-860b-6c96b434d4b9
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Publish date : 2024-05-05 07:00:00
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