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Xi's upcoming Europe visit highly anticipated

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Xi's upcoming Europe visit highly anticipated

2024-05-04 22:31 Last Updated At:05-05 14:57

European officials and respected academics expressed high expectations for the upcoming visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the continent.

Xi will pay state visits to France, Serbia and Hungary from May 5 to 10, with the trip expected to enhance bilateral relations between China and the three countries and boost mutually beneficial cooperation.

It will be the Chinese president's first trip to Europe in nearly five years.

His visit to France marks Xi's third state visit to the European country after visits in 2014 and 2019. This visit, occurring in the 60th anniversary year of China-France diplomatic relations, holds profound significance and offers a pivotal opportunity to both honor past accomplishments and chart a course for the future of bilateral relations.

"France is very honored to welcome the arrival of the Chinese president. This visit is of great significance," said Michel Espagne, director of the French National Scientific Research Center (CNRS).

"It's very important. The first big issue is security, with two wars that are of great concern to France, especially the Ukraine one. And I'm sure President Macron, like he did a year ago, will be intent on discussing this with President Xi. There are lots of other things. There are global issues, whether it's on climate, which has been now for more than 10 years, a central pillar in the discussion between France and China. I'm also thinking of the economy cooperation, people-to-people fields. But also, I'm thinking of AI. So, artificial intelligence is really shaping up as a major force in reshaping international relations," said Justin Vaisse, director general of the Paris Peace Forum.

In Serbia, President Xi's upcoming visit has been hailed as a chance to take an enduring bilateral relationship to new levels.

"We are happy that the President of China will visit Serbia again, and we will have a chance to show the continual development of the iron friendship between Serbia and China. So, I think the most important message is that continual cooperation between Serbia and China are going further," said Bojan Lalic, director of the Institute for Belt and Road Studies in Belgrade.

Scholars and officials in Hungary said China's opening and inclusive diplomatic policies have contributed deeply to global stability, noting that President Xi's visit stands to better enable Hungary to cooperate with China to strengthen this goal.

"These high-level political meetings and visits are very frequent. People-to-people relations are also thriving. Altogether, I would say that today is the golden age of Chinese-Hungarian relations," said Gergely Salat, chairman of the Committee on Oriental Studies at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

"We are really great friends, and despite some countries in the European Union, even in Brussels, want to impose some steps ahead on China, we oppose it. We want to stay open, because connectivity is much better than blocking systems, globalization is still the best way, and cooperating with China is the best way to improve global trade, the global economy, and be more developed," said Hungarian Minister for National Economy Marton Nagy.

Xi's upcoming Europe visit highly anticipated

Xi's upcoming Europe visit highly anticipated

Xi's upcoming Europe visit highly anticipated

Xi's upcoming Europe visit highly anticipated

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Decoupling with China carries risk of major disruptions: Rio Tinto chairman

2024-05-18 17:19 Last Updated At:17:47

Dominic Barton, chairman of leading global mining group Rio Tinto, warned against severing economic ties with China, saying it could lead to higher prices and slower development of new products and technologies, during an interview.

This comes as the White House announced on Tuesday new tariffs on imports of electric vehicles, solar cells and other clean-energy products from China, in a protectionist move widely believed to imperil the American ambition to enhance competitiveness and slash carbon emissions.

Many businesspersons are concerned that this newly announced tariff hike could damage global supply chains and lead to further decoupling of the U.S. from China.

During an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Barton voiced his opposition to decoupling, calling it an impractical approach.

"I think there's some legitimate reasons for resilience in supply chains, and we learned that from COVID in a way, too. Everyone, every country wants to make sure they have some resiliency. But we also need to remember that the foundations of a lot of the growth we've had in the global economy and bringing hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, is because we've had global supply chains. So this idea that we're going to decouple is just ridiculous in my view. It's ridiculous and it'll have very severe consequences. We have to be very careful of that and how we think about that balance," he said.

Barton emphasized the importance of global collaboration for efficient and affordable production, especially in the shift toward sustainable energy and technologies.

"I think the challenge is we don't have a deep enough understanding, the common person like myself, of how supply chains work. We are incredibly linked in what we do. One of the consequences of a less global supply chain is higher inflation. It's just a fact. And higher inflation is not good for anyone," he said.

"Second thing is innovation. If we're going to make this energy transition, we need the materials. We also need to produce the equipment, the technology to be able to do the transition. The solar panels, the electric vehicles, the batteries, and it's in everyone's interest that we have the most efficient, low-cost way of doing it. And so these are factors that we need to make sure we keep in mind in a more politicized environment, because there are real consequences to changing that," Barton added.

Decoupling with China carries risk of major disruptions: Rio Tinto chairman

Decoupling with China carries risk of major disruptions: Rio Tinto chairman

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