Chinese envoys help plan likely visits to Beijing by French and German leaders
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron are each expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in separate November trips
- The trips would be the first in three years by European leaders to China after three years of Covid-enforced absence
Chinese envoys have embarked on a diplomatic flurry to lay the groundwork for likely visits to Beijing by leaders of Germany and France later this year.
China’s former ambassador to Germany, Shi Mingde, was in Berlin last week to work out the details of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s first visit to Beijing as chancellor in November, where he will meet President Xi Jinping, a source familiar with the situation said.
And amid speculation that French President Emmanuel Macron will make a separate trip to visit Xi – also in November – French and Chinese diplomats have engaged in a series of meetings online and in person.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his French counterpart Catherine Colonna at the United Nations in New York on Monday, having already spoken with Macron’s diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonne last week.
The South China Morning Post reported in July that China had invited Macron and Scholz, along with the leaders of Italy and Spain.