Xi Jinping has never visited Kyiv and has no intention of doing so. But the war in Ukraine is set to dominate the Chinese president's tour of Europe, as the conflict stagnates 26 months after the Russian invasion. The Communist leader is expected in France on Monday, May 6, where he will stay for two days before heading off to Serbia and Hungary.
In Paris, Xi will be welcomed by Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace on Monday morning, for a series of talks and an official ceremony at Les Invalides. A state dinner will then be held to commemorate 60 years of relations between France and the People's Republic of China. The following day, the Macron and Xi couples will head for the Hautes-Pyrénées, the department where one of Macron's grandmothers lived, for an altitude stopover on the Col du Tourmalet, presented by the Élysée Palace as "a personal getaway, with their wives, to create the framework for a frank and friendly exchange."
In April 2023, China arranged a similar getaway for Macron, in Guangzhou, with a tea ceremony in the former residence of Xi's father, who was governor of Guangdong province.
Long uncertain, the travel schedule was fiercely negotiated. Although the Élysée Palace admits that it "does not control the agenda" of its host, Paris hoped to be the first stop on the trip, as if to assert its pre-eminence over Belgrade and Budapest, which are both close to Russia and open to Chinese influence on the continent. The Chinese leader's arrival in Serbia on Tuesday evening coincides with the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999. It's quite a symbol for a leader who, like Vladimir Putin, is keen to challenge the Atlantic alliance and the presumed hegemony of the US.
'Changing the Russian position'
"It's not in China's interest today to have a Russia that destabilizes the international order (...) So we have to work with [it] to build peace," said Macron, who said as much in an interview with The Economist published on Thursday. It's a question of "asking China to use the levers at its disposal to change Russia's position," said the Élysée Palace, without having too many illusions about China's stance at a time when the war is getting bogged down, or even potentially turning to the Kremlin's advantage.
While the West accuses his country of supporting the Russian war effort, Xi is preparing to receive Putin again in Beijing. On the other hand, Xi had only one telephone conversation with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a year ago. Since then, the latter has been asking his allies to pass on his messages to his Chinese counterpart, as explained by the Élysée Palace.
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