In Beijing, Commission President von der Leyen finds clear words after a meeting with party and state leader Xi. French President Macron, on the other hand, is more tame – and apparently irritates Xi.
Emmanuel Macron distanced himself less from Xi Jinping than Ursula von der Leyen in Beijing on Thursday.
French President Emmanuel Macron wanted to send a sign of European unity on his first visit to China since the beginning of the pandemic, and he therefore invited the President of the European Commission to accompany him. After Ursula von der Leyen’s clear speech last week, in which she outlined a tougher course towards the internationally increasingly aggressive China, observed observers between the duo with a role distribution à la “good policeman, bad policewoman”. And that’s what happened on Thursday – if Macron could pass as a police officer at all.
