BEIJING, April 6 (Reuters) – Among the many French enterprise executives travelling to Beijing with President Emmanuel Macron, the temper was cautiously sanguine on the thawing post-pandemic commerce prospects with China, with some rejecting American-led requires ‘decoupling’.
Macron travelled to China with a 50-strong delegation of enterprise leaders together with the CEOs of Airbus (AIR.PA), Alstom (ALSO.PA) and EDF (EDF.PA), elevating eyebrows amongst some diplomats that this might blur the message of firmness the West desires to ship at a time of heightened stress between Beijing and america.
Within the French embassy’s gardens, the place Macron addressed the French group on Wednesday night, the president’s rejection of what he referred to as an “inescapable spiral” of stress that will result in chopping off ties with China was broadly welcomed.
“It is superb that the president got here. It exhibits the enterprise group is supported by the president, it is crucial vis-à-vis the Chinese language authorities,” Thierry de la Tour d’Artaise, chairman of French equipment group SEB (SEBF.PA), instructed Reuters.
“Individuals do not know this nation effectively, quite a lot of the issues being stated are unfaithful,” he stated. “I do not suppose the People ask for our opinion after they journey right here, so it is superb for France to do its personal issues and bear duty for it.”
His firm, which sells wok pans, blenders and rice cookers underneath the Supor model identify, is the chief in small kitchen home equipment in China, he stated.
The dimensions of Macron’s enterprise delegation was criticised by some commentators, although.
“Three-quarters of the delegation are enterprise leaders: the objective is firstly to signal contracts,” Raphael Glucksmann, a left-wing member of the European parliament, wrote on Twitter forward of Macron’s go to.
“At a time the talk in Europe focuses on our suicidal dependency on China and Chinese language interference, the message is inopportune,” he stated.
However requested by Reuters whether or not there was any contradiction between European leaders’ name to “de-risk” their relationship with China and his main enterprise offensive, Macron himself rejected this argument.
“Strategic autonomy doesn’t suggest autarky,” Macron stated after the speech on the embassy.
France had been cautious to not let its strategic telecoms operators and vitality suppliers fall underneath non-European possession, however there have been nonetheless enterprise alternatives in sectors the place nationwide safety was not a danger, comparable to agriculture, Macron stated.
“It is the distinction between de-risking and decoupling,” he stated.
Working in China nonetheless offered challenges for French companies, China-based French expats stated.
“They’re pushing us to switch know-how and we refuse. It is a sport of cat and mouse, however we nonetheless handle to do nice issues,” a Beijing-based engineer working for French aerospace firm Safran instructed Reuters.
Reporting by Michel Rose; Modifying by Raju Gopalakrishnan
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