Why Macron’s China trip sent ripples across both sides of the Atlantic

French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to Beijing has sent ripples across the US-led Western alliance as he made some bold assertions regarding Paris' stance on Taiwan as well as its efforts to establish the EU as the third great power. 

Marking Macron's first trip to China since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, the visit has led many European and American leaders to wonder whether France is on their side or pursuing a conflicting foreign policy agenda. 

Although the head of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen was part of the Xi-Macron meeting, some of the French president's comments were in total contrast with the EU's position on some of the compelling geopolitical issues of our time. For instance, Macron advocated for the EU’s strategic autonomy in the Taiwan case and for enhancing economic ties with China as well as engaging with Putin with the sole aim of ending the Ukraine war.

The strategy of de-risking instead of decoupling

Macron also advocated for an isolationist approach – to keep Europe away from offshore conflicts and instead focus on building a "strategic autonomy". He also highlighted the need for reducing Europe's dependence on the “extraterritoriality of the US dollar”.

For many European and American foreign policy analysts, Macron was echoing China's talking points. 

Gideon Rachman, the chief foreign affairs commentator at Financial Times, criticised Macron for wanting Europe to stay away from the Ukraine conflict and expecting the US to do all the fighting for the rest of the world. 

Macron also spoke carefully about de-restricting Chinese access to sensitive technology – one of Washington's main policy goals – and offered a different approach vis-a-vis de-risking with China. Macron said: “De-risking did not mean severing trade ties with China, …there is no contradiction in reducing Europe's dependence on China in strategic sectors such as telecoms and increasing business links in other areas.”

Several French businessmen, including CEOs of Airbus, luxury giant LVMH and nuclear energy producer EDF  accompanied Macron to China.

Ukraine-first?

Both Macron and Ursula von der Leyen indicated strong interest in engaging with Xi on the question of the Ukraine conflict. The duo reportedly pressed Xi to shun his reluctance to condemn Russia and proactively convince Putin to end the war.  

Given that Macron's reputation for ending conflicts peacefully is tarnished, as evidenced by his failure in Mali, the French leader is facing criticism for "wooing" Xi after failing to build any rapport with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Previously, China had proposed a 12-point peace plan for the Ukraine war.

Dismissing Taiwan

On the question of Taiwan, Macron said in an interview with Les Echos and Politico that “the worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and adapt to the American rhythm or a Chinese overreaction.”

The comment triggered an uproar on both sides of the Atlantic. US Senator Marco Rubio slammed Macron for speaking "for all of Europe". 

"Their position now is, they're not going to pick sides between the US and China over Taiwan, maybe then we should not be taking sides either . . . and (let them) handle Ukraine."

The political independence from the US, as claimed by Macron, is also connected with the aspirations for economic independence from the US.