Few leaders travel to China seeking gravitas and return with only a couple of pandas, but French President Emmanuel Macron managed to do just that.
After surrendering sovereignty to US President Donald Trump, Macron visited China seeking a validation that his citizens no longer grant. His authority at home has been eroded through cabinet implosions, collapsing support, stalled budgets and demands for his resignation. China could see that before he even stepped off the plane.
Beijing handled a presidency that carries titles without weight, offering little more than staged photo opportunities and carefully chosen diplomatic gestures to the leader of the European Union’s second-largest economy who was seeking to project grandeur.
Macron asked China to invest in sectors he simultaneously believes Europe must fully shield to retain a basic industrial foothold: electric vehicles, batteries and solar. He had once condemned Beijing for industrial overcapacity; he now courted the same capacity to fill domestic gaps he cannot close.
While stringent screening has fallen on small-package products sold via Shein, eight of China’s 10 top exports to France by value are advanced technologies. Meanwhile, France sends back perfumes, cognac and handbags. Essentially, only aerospace engines keep Paris in hi-tech competition.
Before Macron’s trip, French intelligence underlined the imbalance, warning about intensified pressure from China’s lead in artificial intelligence, quantum research and rare earths. Macron seemingly set these warnings aside as well.