Silk Roads ‘cannot flow only one way’

Macron charm offensive takes on panda power

FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday China and Europe should work together on Beijing’s “Belt and Road” initiative, a project aiming to build a modern-day Silk Road he said could not be “one-way”.

Macron began his first state visit to China with a stop in Xian, an eastern departure point of the ancient Silk Road, hoping to relaunch EU-China relations often strained by Beijing’s restrictions on foreign investment and trade.

“After all, the ancient Silk Roads were never only Chinese,” Macron told academics, students and business people at the Daming Palace, the royal residence for the Tang dynasty for more than 220 years.

“By definition, these roads can only be shared. If they are roads, they cannot be one-way,” he said.

Unveiled in 2013, the Belt and Road project is aimed at connecting China by land and sea to Southeast Asia, Pakistan and Central Asia, and beyond to the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

Xi pledged $124-billion (R1.5-trillion) for the plan at a summit in May but it has faced suspicion in Western capitals that it is intended more to assert Chinese influence than Beijing’s professed desire to spread prosperity.

Macron, who pledged to visit China at least once every year during his mandate, said the new infrastructure and cultural projects promoted by China could also be in France’s and Europe’s interest if done in a spirit of cooperation.

“These roads cannot be those of a new hegemony, which would transform those that they cross into vassals,” Macron said.

Alice Ekman, of the Paris-based IFRI think-tank, said: “For the moment, considering how extensive and unclear the Chinese project continues to be, several European countries, including France, have shown caution about it.

“For China, the new Silk Roads are also a tool to promote new international standards, rules and norms that are different from those currently used by France and other European countries.”

British Finance Minister Philip Hammond said last month Britain, which is quitting the European Union, wanted closer cooperation with China over the Belt and Road scheme.

Macron, 40, has said Europe should not be “naive” in its trade relations, pushing in Brussels for more stringent anti-dumping rules against imports of cheap Chinese steel.

In June, he urged the European Commission to build a system for screening investments in strategic sectors from outside the bloc, which drew criticism from Beijing.

In Xian, Macron said he hoped EUChinese relations could have a new start, based on “balanced rules”, after acknowledging there had been mistrust and “legitimate questions” in China, as well as fears among Europeans.

Europe was now united and ready to cooperate with China after years of crisis-management and economic stagnation, Macron said.

“What I came to tell you is Europe is back,” he added.

The French president, who is travelling with a delegation of 50 businessmen, that is hoping to gain more access for French companies to Chinese markets.

In a response to panda power, Macron is betting on equine diplomacy during this first state visit to China – presenting his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping with a horse as a gift.

The animal, a retired Republican Guard horse named Vesuve de Brekka, is in quarantine. But Macron showed a photograph of it to Xi when they met in Beijing yesterday.

The French presidential office said Xi had been “fascinated” by their equestrian skills when he was escorted by the guard during his visit to Paris in 2014.

“Wishing to have friendly ties with foreign heads of state, Emmanuel Macron wants to make more than a gift – a diplomatic gesture,” the presidency said.

The eight-year-old dark brown horse took part in its last presidential escort on November 11 on the Champs-Elysees. The horses are ridden by sword-wielding guards on formal occasions.

Macron will also offer Xi a sabre engraved with “Mr Emmanuel Macron – President of the French Republic – Beijing – January 2018”.

The gift is Macron’s answer to China’s panda diplomacy. And the French leader’s name in Mandarin is rendered “Ma-ke-long“, or “the horse vanquishes the dragon”.

The horse arrived in China on a special plane accompanied by the Republican Guard’s chief veterinarian and a member of the unit on January 4, four days before Macron. He landed in the northern city of Xian early yesterday.

The horse will remain in quarantine before joining Xi’s presidential stable. — Reuters/AFP