NOS News•today, 3:24 PM
Chinese President Xi Jinping is making a rare visit to Europe this week. For the first time in five years, Xi is setting foot on European soil again and for good reason.
Xi started his state visit to France with a meeting with French President Macron. The two heads of state toast sixty years of diplomatic relations between the countries. But after the festive celebration of that milestone, other matters arise. Although Macron will make an effort to discuss the war in Ukraine, the conversation will mainly focus on trade.
Reason for EU Commission President Von der Leyen to also be present during the visit to Paris. At the top of her agenda is “fair competition” between the European Union and China. Recently, the European Commission has opened several investigations into competition and state aid from China, such as cheap electric cars entering the European market.
After the visit to France, the entire Chinese delegation will travel to Serbia and Hungary. In Serbia, Xi will attend a commemoration of the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in 1999 on Wednesday. Three Chinese people were killed in the mistaken bombing, for which Washington apologized. China has never accepted that apology and uses the issue to justify its support for Russia.
With Xi’s visit to the commemoration, NATO is taking a beating. The Chinese president wants to say once again in Belgrade that the Americans cannot be trusted and that something must be done in return. Not only Serbia is on good terms with China, Hungary is also increasingly opening the door to Chinese relations.
The world’s largest electric car manufacturer, China’s BYD (Build Your Dreams), is going one build a factory in Hungary. The fact that Hungarian leader Orbán makes no secret of his relationship with China became clear at the beginning of this year when the two countries signed a kind of security agreement. This meant that Chinese police officers could patrol Hungary and check Chinese citizens. This is already happening in Serbia.
