“We do not want to cut economic, social, political and scientific ties,” von der Leyen said, although Paris like Brussels hopes to “rebalance” the trading relationship based on “transparency, predictability and reciprocity”.
Macron will also meet French residents in Beijing on Wednesday afternoon, before talks with Chinese leaders on Thursday and a state dinner in the evening.
On Friday, he will travel to Guangzhou in southern China to meet local students.
But Macron will also be eyeing France’s footprint across the Asia-Pacific region.
Some 1.6 million citizens live in French overseas territories, from La Reunion off the east coast of Madagascar to New Caledonia in Australia’s northeast and dozens of Pacific islands in French Polynesia.
Thanks to its vast population, abundant natural resources and economic weight, Asia-Pacific has become the “nerve center of the planet,” said Cédric Perrin, co-author of a French Senate report on the region.
France hopes its vast economic zone and 7,000 deployed troops could lend it a seat at the table as tensions rise on several fronts, including with nuclear-armed North Korea and the island of Taiwan between China and the United States.
