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Arriving Sunday afternoon in France to celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations in Beijing and Paris, Chinese President Xi Jinping is making his third state visit to France since his accession to power in 2013, and the second in the company of Emmanuel Macron. THE commercial links, complex, between the planetary workshop, France and the European Union are on the menu for this trip, likewise, hopes the French president, that the influence that China could exercise on its Russian ally so that he accepts minus a truce in its war against Ukraine during the Olympics. Update on the program for this state visit.
A Monday focused on business relations
If the Chinese president all powerful arrived on Sunday afternoon in Orly, welcomed by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, the visit did not officially begin until late in the morning. The Chinese president was welcomed at 11 a.m. at the Élysée by Emmanuel Macron, for a meeting intended to address without delay the numerous trade disputes between China and the European Union and France. The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen joins the Franco-Chinese duo. It is not planned that they will yet go to the Franco-Chinese economic forum which is being held at the same time at the nearby Marigny Theater.
At 3 p.m., a large welcome ceremony is organized in the magnificent setting of the Hôtel des Invalides, to properly celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations, launched by the recognition of Mao’s People’s China in 1964 by General de Gaulle, one of the very first to make this gesture towards a then isolated regime. As a result, the Army Museum and Napoleon’s tomb are only open to the public until midday.
The protocol for a state visit normally requires that the foreign head of state be transported by helicopter from the airport to the Esplanade des Invalides, after having performed an aerial arabesque to admire the Eiffel Tower. But Xi arrived on Sunday and the esplanade is now busy with the installation site for the archery and para-archery events which will take place there during the Olympics. However, it was decorated in the colors of China.
After the ceremony, the Chinese president will drive to the Élysée Palace, escorted by the Republican Guard, perhaps on horseback, as Xi is passionate about horse riding. A two-hour bilateral meeting will take place there, following which Emmanuel Macron and Xi Jinping will speak jointly to the press. They should then go to the Marigny theater to meet French-Chinese investors.
State dinner at the Élysée
A visit to the Peninsula, palace on Avenue Kléber where to stay, as in 2019, the Chinese delegation, and it will be time to go to the state dinner organized at the presidential headquarters in honor of the Chinese presidential couple. The menu, inevitably commensurate with the best of French gastronomy, nor the guest list have been revealed. In 2019, during Xi’s previous grand reception, 200 prestigious guests were invitedincluding Alain Delon and Hélène Rollès, stars adored in China, the musician Jean-Michel Jarre, the actress Gong Li, the chef Alain Ducasse and the boss of the LVMH group (and owner of Parisien-Aujourd’hui in France) Bernard Arnault.
The First Ladies at Orsay
Brigitte Macron is expected to take President Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan, to the Musée d’Orsay. The magnificent museum on the left bank is traditionally closed on Mondays, making it even easier to secure. They should then meet students, before going to UNESCO headquarters, Place de Fontenoy (7th arrondissement).
A more personal Tuesday
The two heads of state and their wives will leave the capital at 10 a.m., heading to the Hautes-Pyrénées for a discovery of the col du Tourmalet where they will have lunch in a less formal setting. Emmanuel Macron hopes to establish a more spontaneous dialogue with President Xi by taking him to the lands of his childhood. The French president’s maternal grandmother, Germaine Noguès, who died in 2013, to whom he was very close, lived in Bagnères-de-Bigorre. This meeting is intended to echo the one organized last year in China. Xi Jinping received his counterpart in Guangzhou for a tea ceremony at the residence of the governor of Guangdong province. His father, Xi Zhongxun, had lived there when he held this position from 1978 to 1981.
At the end of this program, President Xi will travel to Serbia and then to Hungary, where he is expected from May 8 to 10.
