- Tweeter
republish
This Sunday, Xi Jinping was in the Principality of Monaco. The Chinese president will be in Paris Monday, March 25, but his visit to France begins this Sunday on the French Riviera, where he is greeted by his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron for an interview followed by a dinner between the two presidential couples. A visit under the sign of the Chinese "new silk roads", this gigantic system of rail and sea links intended to promote trade and cooperation between the countries of Asia and Europe, which some in Europe watch with suspicion.
Chinese President Xi Jinping honored Sunday the small principality of Monaco of a state visit unpublished where he had lunch and spent two hours and a half.
The Chinese leader has had bilateral talks in the economic and environmental field whose content has not filtered. No press briefing was organized after this meeting, which constitutes a historic diplomatic success for the Monaco ruler Albert II: except France, Monaco and its 38,000 residents had never hosted a leader of a great power, member of the UN Security Council.
→ RELIRE: Why is Chinese President Xi Jinping going to Monaco?
He left Monaco around 14:45 UTC to return to Nice, where he will stay with his suite in the most famous hotel in the city, the Negresco, on the Promenade des Anglais, totally forbidden to cars and even bicycles for security reasons.
This Sunday evening, accompanied by his wife, he dines with the French presidential couple. A smooth start before tackling more delicate issues on Monday.
France wants to find points of convergence
For a few days, Emmanuel Macron has been trying to unify European positions against China. Xi Jinping's visit was already meant to be an opportunity for the French president to repeat that the silk roads must work both ways, both for trade and for investment.
But the signing on Saturday by Italy of a memorandum of understanding on its participation in the famous roads led Emmanuel Macron to multiply the European initiatives, with last week in Brussels discussions on China, and the coming on Tuesday to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Paris and European Council President Donald Tusk to meet with Xi Jinping.
Objectives according to the Elysee Palace: " find points of convergence between Europe and China ", including the implementation of the Paris Agreement on the climate and multilateralism, at a time when the United States seems to distance himself. It would be a question of asking Beijing to engage more clearly in the framework of the international institutions, for the reform of the WTO in particular.
Human Rights Watch, fearing that human rights will be ignored during the visit, called on Emmanuel Macron to confront Xi Jinping with the scale of human rights violations in China, unprecedented in recent years according to the NGO .
■ Former Interpol boss's wife appeals to Macron
The wife of the former Chinese president of Interpol, without news of her husband since he was arrested for corruption almost six months ago, asked French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the matter with his counterpart Chinese Xi Jinping during his visit to France.
In a letter sent to the Elysée dated 21 March, which AFP obtained a copy, Grace Meng " asks to know where (her husband) is and how he is doing ". " I ask that Mr. Meng be visited by his lawyers and that they can assist him, " she says.
"For both my family and others who are experiencing the same ordeals, I ask France, respected and listened to throughout the world for its values and commitment to human rights, to bring this message to the attention of occasion of this meeting with President Xi Jinping, "expected Sunday in France for a three-day visit, writes the wife of Meng Hongwei.
The former president of Interpol - headquartered in Lyon - disappeared in late September 2018 in China and resigned from the head of the police organization by mail on October 7, after the announcement by Beijing of its placement under investigation for " accepting bribes ".