PARIS: Emmanuel Macron heads to China on Wednesday for a three-day state visit focusing on trade and diplomatic talks as the French president seeks to enlist Beijing in pressuring Russia toward a ceasefire with Ukraine.
Macron will advocate for an agenda of cooperation in economic and trade matters aimed at achieving a balance that ensures “sustainable, solid growth that benefits everyone,” his office said.
France is aiming to attract more investment from Chinese companies and facilitate market access for French exports. During the visit, officials from both nations are expected to sign several agreements in the energy, food industry, and aviation sectors.
Macron is committed to defend “fair and reciprocal market access,” his office said.
France will host the Group of Seven summit in 2026 involving the world’s most advanced economies, while China will chair the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which includes the United States, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and Russia.
The 27-nation bloc runs a massive trade deficit with China — over 300 billion euros last year. China alone represents 46 percent of France’s total trade deficit.
France and the European Union have described China as a partner, competitor and systemic rival. Recent years have been marked by multiple trade disputes across a range of industries after the EU undertook a probe into Chinese electric vehicles subsidies. China responded with investigations into imports of European brandy, pork and dairy products.
In July, Macron welcomed exemptions for most cognac producers as a positive step. France is China’s first supplier of wine and spirits.
Macron’s talks with President Xi Jinping will also address Russia’s war in Ukraine, particularly following a meeting Monday in Paris with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss potential terms for a ceasefire.
“What we want ... is that China can convince and influence Russia to move toward a ceasefire as quickly as possible and consolidate that ceasefire through negotiations which, in our view, should lead to solid security guarantees for Ukraine,” a French top diplomatic official said.
Paris expects Beijing to “refrain from providing Russia with any means whatsoever to continue the war,” the official said, speaking anonymously in line with the French presidency customary practices.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said last week that Beijing believes in “dialogue and negotiation” to resolve Ukraine war and supports “all efforts” leading to peace. Since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, China “has played a constructive role in promoting a political resolution of the crisis,” she said.
Macron, who will be accompanied by his wife, Brigitte, is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday evening, with plans to visit the 18th-century Qianlong Garden complex in the Forbidden City, which has been recently reopened to the public after a major renovation.
On Thursday, Macron will meet with Xi at the Great Hall of the People. Both leaders will then participate in a Franco-Chinese business forum. In the afternoon, Macron’s agenda includes talks with Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People’s Congress, and Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
The French presidential couple will then travel to Chengdu in China’s Sichuan province.
On Friday, Macron and Xi will have talks in Dujiangyan, on the site of one of the world’s oldest irrigation system. Macron will later meet with students from the Sichuan University.
Chengdu is also home to the Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, where Yuan Meng, the first giant panda born in France who got his name by first lady Brigitte Macron, is now staying. France last month sent back to China a couple of star giant pandas who lived in the country for 13 years and gave birth to three cubs.
Macron heads to China for talks with Xi on trade ties and Russia’s war in Ukraine
https://arab.news/9q8pn
Macron heads to China for talks with Xi on trade ties and Russia’s war in Ukraine
- France and the European Union have described China as a partner, competitor and systemic rival
Afghanistan launches retaliatory attacks on Pakistan as tensions escalate
- At least 66 Afghans have been killed by Pakistan’s strikes, Afghan authorities say
- Afghanistan has called for dialogue while Pakistan ruled out any talks with Kabul
KABUL: Afghanistan has launched new attacks on Pakistan’s military bases, the Afghan defense ministry said on Saturday, as cross-border clashes escalated between the neighbors after months of tension.
The latest flare-up erupted after Pakistan’s airstrikes on Afghan territory last weekend triggered a retaliatory offensive from Afghanistan along the border on Thursday.
The two countries have engaged in tit-for-tat attacks since, marking the most serious development in ongoing tensions between the two countries, which agreed to a ceasefire last October following a week of deadly clashes.
Afghanistan’s Air Force has “once again launched airstrikes on Pakistani military bases” in Miranshah and Spinwam, the Afghan Ministry of National Defense said on X on Saturday, claiming that the strikes caused “severe damage and heavy casualties.”
“These successful operations were conducted in response to repeated aerial aggressions by the Pakistani military regime,” the ministry said.
Afghan forces also launched similar strikes against military targets in Islamabad and Abbottabad on Friday, which the ministry said was in retaliation of aerial attacks by Pakistani forces in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia.
At least 66 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Pakistani strikes, with another 59 others wounded, according to Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Afghan government.
Pakistan has maintained that it is targeting only military targets to avoid any civilian casualties, in compliance with international law.
Pakistani officials said its forces have killed more than 330 Afghan fighters and targeted 37 military locations across Afghanistan.
Zabihullah Mujahid, chief spokesperson for the Afghan government, earlier called for talks to resolve the crisis.
“We have always emphasized peaceful resolution, and now too we want the issue to be resolved through dialogue,” he said on Friday.
However, Pakistan has ruled out any talks with Kabul.
“There won’t be any talks, there is nothing to talk about. There’s no negotiation. Terrorism from Afghanistan has to end,” Mosharraf Zaidi, spokesperson for Pakistan’s prime minister, said on Friday.
Pakistan is accusing the Afghan Taliban of sheltering fighters from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and allowing them to stage cross-border attacks — a charge Afghanistan denies, saying it does not allow its territory to be used against other countries.
As international calls for mediation grow amid the escalating hostility, Afghans across the country are growing fearful of the violence.
“Everyone heard the jets. This is the first time since the withdrawal of US invaders that we have heard such a horrible noise and news of damage. It is not good for us,” said Kandahar resident Shahid Zamari.
“We had forgotten the US war and its bad impact on us, on our families, on our children. And now this has come upon us again — by Pakistan, and in the holy month of Ramadan.”
When the strikes hit Kabul at around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, Saleema Wardak moved quickly to wake up her six children and escape outside, assuming the strong jolt that shook her house was an earthquake.
“While standing in the yard, my husband told me it was not an earthquake but an explosion. Then we heard the crazy sounds of planes, and shooting from the mountains against the planes,” she told Arab News.
“We hid inside, worried another bomb would fall on us. People say Pakistan is targeting civilians on purpose to increase pressure on the Taliban. So we hid … The world is unjust … They do not value the blood of the poor.”
For Sabawoon, a 23-year-old student from eastern Kunar province’s Asadabad city, the coming days are filled with uncertainties.
“What to do? Where to go? We have to stay and find our way to survive,” he told Arab News. “God willing, nothing bad will happen to us. If they are bombing us, what can we do?”
