Macron is accused of ‘flattering tyrants’ and ‘rolling out the red carpet’ for Chinese President Xi Jinping as two leaders pose for photos with their wives at the Elysee Palace

French President Emmanuel Macron has been accused of “flattering tyrants” and “rolling out the red carpet” for Chinese President Xi Jinping as the two leaders posed next to their wives at the Elysee Palace.

Macron was accompanied by Ursula von de Leyen, the head of the European Commission, when they met Jinping, who is financially and diplomatically backing Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

The meeting took place amid the threat of a trade war between Europe and China, targeting electric cars and cognac.

France is backing an EU investigation into Chinese exports of electric vehicles, and in January Beijing led an investigation into imports of French-made cognac.

Ahead of Jinping’s first visit to the EU in five years, Macron told French newspaper La Tribune that an update of relations was necessary “because China now has overcapacity in many areas and is exporting massively to Europe.”

Macron plans to take his Chinese counterpart on a personal trip through the Pyrenees – his grandmother’s birthplace, while Jinping praised ties between the two nations after landing in Paris.

In a statement, he claimed that ties between the two nations were a “model for the international community of peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation between countries with different social systems.”

“The future of our continent will very clearly depend on our ability to continue developing relations with China in a balanced way,” Macron said at the start of a trilateral meeting.

However, Macron was criticized for “rolling out the red carpet” for a “dictator” who supports Russia’s deadly war efforts.

French MEP and left-wing European election candidate Raphaël Glucksmann said Macron was only trying to get into the autocrats’ good books.

He wrote inside Le Monde: ‘You roll out the red carpet and you even invite (Xi Jinping) to a place dear to you in your childhood in the Pyrenees, an intimate place that should clothe this special relationship you dream of in the cloak of friendship.

‘And as usual, you justify such submissiveness to a dictator by saying you have to be realistic.

“But there is nothing ‘realistic’ about your subservient attitude… Without China’s help, Russia would not have been able to confront Western sanctions and mount such a war effort.”

In an interview with France Inter, he continued: ‘Because Xi Jinping is not our friend: in addition to deporting the Uyghur people, oppressing the Tibetans and Hong Kong citizens and threatening the Taiwanese, Xi Jinping is the main supporter of Putin’s war in Syria. Ukraine.

Without China’s help, Russia would not have been able to continue this war. It is not by flattering tyrants that we show realism,” he said.

China has long maintained it is neutral in the war, but Beijing and Moscow have deepened ties since the start of the full-scale invasion, with tyrant Putin expected to visit China this month.

On Sunday evening, Leyen reported the EU’s continued dissatisfaction with China, which she said is “currently producing with enormous subsidies.”

An oversupply of cars and steel due to weak domestic demand led to unfair trade, unacceptable market distortions that “could lead to deindustrialization in Europe” and job losses – especially within the German car industry.

Macron will try to get Jinping out of his retaliation over the electric vehicle investigation, possibly with tariffs on French cognac and agricultural products.

“For fair trade, access to both markets must be reciprocal,” Leyen said after the meeting.

“Our market is and will remain open to fair competition and investment, but it is not good for Europe if it damages our security and makes us vulnerable.”

She said Europe “will not hesitate to take the difficult decisions necessary to protect its economy and security.”

On Ukraine, Leyen urged Jinping to adhere to China’s commitment not to supply lethal equipment to Russia.

She said she encouraged him to make greater efforts to curb dual-use goods to Russia that end up on the battlefield in Ukraine.

“Given the existential nature posed by this threat to both Ukraine and Europe, it has implications for EU-China relations,” she said.

After Monday’s summit, Macron and his wife Brigitte will host Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan for a state banquet.

On Tuesday, Macron will take the Chinese leader to the Pyrenees, where the two couples are expected to take a cable car to the top of the 3,400-metre Pic du Midi, a dark-sky reserve.

After cutting short his trip in France, Jinping will head to Serbia, where he will arrive for talks with President Aleksandar Vucic on the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.

The Chinese leader will then travel to Budapest on May 8, the final stop of his European tour.

There he will meet Hungarian President Viktor Orbán, the EU’s most Russia-friendly leader.