Why Xi Jinping chose France to start his first trip to Europe since 2019

Xi's selection of France as the only significant European nation to visit demonstrates the generally positive condition of Sino-French ties since Macron's official state visit to China in April 2023 and recognizes the French president's role as an EU power broker read more Macron’s top goal will be to alert Xi about the risks of supporting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, as Western diplomats are worried that Moscow is already utilizing Chinese machinery to produce weapons Image Courtesy AP On a state visit arranged by Emmanuel Macron, the French president will try to press his Chinese counterpart on matters…