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Xi Jinping’s early-May visit to France, Serbia and Hungary did little to ease tensions with the European Union, despite Beijing’s claim that it managed to “maintain friendship, promote solidarity and open up the future”. The Chinese president did score some wins on his first trip to Europe for five years, in part a result of choosing destinations likely to welcome him warmly. He was able to play up the stability of Europe-China relations and European divisions about the region’s stance towards Beijing – and give no ground on contentious issues. But this intransigence could yet burden the EU-China relations. The fact that Xi met Russia's president Vladimir Putin in Beijing only a few days after his return from Europe shows that tensions will likely remain high in EU-China relations.
French President Emmanuel Macron displayed a more reserved stance than the one he adopted during his visit to China last year, limiting Beijing's opportunity to leverage European strategic autonomy ambitions in an attempt to disrupt transatlantic ties. But in exchanges with Macron and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Xi stood his ground, flat out denying the existence of overcapacity issues in Chinese manufacturing and offering only a vague, non-public commitment to monitor China’s dual-use goods exports to Russia. But 37 signed agreements and a personal retreat with Macron allowed Beijing to claim the relationship with Paris had been “re-consolidated”.
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