{"id":79780,"date":"2024-05-08T20:49:06","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T20:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/situationer-does-xis-france-visit-signal-a-european-shift-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-05-08T20:49:06","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T20:49:06","slug":"situationer-does-xis-france-visit-signal-a-european-shift-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/situationer-does-xis-france-visit-signal-a-european-shift-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Situationer: Does Xi's France visit signal a European shift? | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This week, China\u2019s President Xi Jinping embarked on his first state visit to Europe in five years. Beginning with a two-day stay in France, commemorating 60 years since diplomatic ties were first established between the two nations, the tour also includes vital stops in Serbia and Hungary.<\/p>\n

With the first leg of this tour over, Western political observers have taken a predictably grim stance on the outcome of Xi\u2019s interaction with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron. Some of it appears to be fuelled by Macron\u2019s domestic critics and opponents, who tend to criticise the French president\u2019s overtures to leaders seen as ideological opponents to a Western world order. It was Putin two years ago, right before the conflict in Ukraine began, and it appears to be Xi now.<\/p>\n

Much of the grim analysis, however, appears inspired by typical pro-US talking points: that Xi didn\u2019t budge on Russia nor significantly tilted the existing balance of trade in Europe\u2019s favor. From that rather narrow lens, Xi\u2019s stay in France would seem to be a rather inert exercise. It is true that the Chinese president offered no major concessions on the trade front and it is true that he stuck to his guns on Russia: \u201cChina did not create the Ukraine crisis, nor is it a party to it. All along, China has been working vigorously to facilitate talks for peace,\u201d Xi told Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during their trilateral meeting according the statement issued by China\u2019s foreign ministry.<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0Xi says China ready to enhance trust, deepen cooperation with France<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The world these days is more divided than it has ever been in the three decades since the Cold War ended. It is easy for the West to pin those divisions on those it frames as the \u2018other\u2019 \u2013 the Global South and rival powers like China and Russia \u2013 when they don\u2019t bend to its worldview. But take the two prevalent conflicts \u2013 the aforementioned war in Ukraine and the one Israel wages with brutal impunity in Gaza \u2013 the double standards constantly employed by the West in reference to both, for once, make it appear equally if not more complicit in perpetuating a divided world.<\/p>\n

The comments Xi made throughout the visit, and indeed the trip itself, reflect that one superpower is at least trying to bridge divisions where the other is digging its ideological heels in.<\/p>\n

On the Ukraine crisis, Xi noted that China, France and the EU all wish to see the return of peace in Europe and support political settlement of the crisis. \u201cThe three parties need to jointly oppose spill over and escalation of the fighting, create conditions for peace talks, safeguard international energy and food security, and keep industrial and supply chains stable,\u201d the Chinese foreign ministry quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0Xi tells Blinken US, China must be ‘partners, not rivals’<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

More importantly, the visit yielded a significant joint statement by Xi and Macron covering the crises in the Middle East. Condemning \u201call violations of international humanitarian law, include acts of terrorist violence and indiscriminate attacks against civilians,\u201d Xi and Macron underscored the \u201cthe absolute imperative of protecting civilians in Gaza in accordance with international humanitarian law.\u201d The two leaders expressed explicit opposition to the offensive on Rafah that Israel is poised to launch, and stressed the need for an immediate and sustainable ceasefire.<\/p>\n

Both Xi and Macron also called for a decisive and irreversible relaunch of a political process to concretely implement the two-State solution, which the former identified as the \u2018fundamental way out\u2019 of the crisis.<\/p>\n

Where Western critics have sought to downplay Xi and Macron\u2019s interaction, it is important to remember that the latter only recently spoke out on the need for Europe to develop and maintain its \u2018strategic autonomy\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Europe, today, is mortal, and it can die,\u201d he said in a speech at the Sorbonne University in Paris last month. Referring to Western Europe\u2019s exclusive security dependence on the US, he noted that Washington has two priorities: \u201cthe United States first and the China question second. The European question is not a geopolitical priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Xi during his stay in France, stressed that China-EU relations \u201cdo not target any third party, nor should it be dependent on or dictated by any third party.\u201d He said that China regards Europe as an important dimension in its major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics and an important partner on its path toward Chinese modernisation. \u201cIt is hoped that the EU institutions will develop the right perception of China and adopt a positive China policy,\u201d he urged, adding that the two sides should respect each other\u2019s core interests and major concerns, safeguard the political foundation of their relations, and uphold the basic norms of international relations.<\/p>\n

The Chinese president drew attention to the five principles Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai put forth for peaceful coexistence 70 years ago \u2013 \u201cmutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in each other\u2019s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence\u201d \u2013 which stand in stark contrast to Washington\u2019s \u2018with us or against us\u2019 foreign policy. Only earlier this year, the United States\u2019 top diplomat made a statement that summed up that approach: \u201c”if you’re not at the table in the international system, you’re going to be on the menu,\u201d Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the Munich Security Conference in February.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, China\u2019s President Xi Jinping embarked on his first state visit to Europe in five years. Beginning with a two-day stay in France, commemorating 60 years since diplomatic ties were first established between the two nations, the tour also includes vital stops in Serbia and Hungary. With the first leg of this tour over, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/Xijinpinginfrance1715191861-0\/Xijinpinginfrance1715191861-0.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}