Xi felicitates Macron on reelection
In message to French leader, Chinese president calls for taking bilateral relations to new level
President Xi Jinping offered his congratulations to Emmanuel Macron on his reelection as French president, saying that he is willing to continue working with his French counterpart to bring bilateral ties to new heights and benefit the peoples of the two countries and the world.
With the international landscape undergoing profound and complex changes, it is even more strategically important for China and France, both with a tradition of independent decision-making, to maintain the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations, Xi said in the message on April 25.
He noted that the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership, led by the two heads of state, has developed at a high standard over the past five years, as the two sides have joined hands in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, upholding multilateralism and improving global governance.
In doing so, both sides have given fresh impetus to relations between China and the European Union and made new contributions to global peace, stability and prosperity, he said.
Xi said he has always viewed bilateral ties from a strategic and longterm perspective, and is willing to work with Macron in upholding independence, mutual understanding, a long-term vision and win-win outcomes — the original aspirations of the two nations when they established diplomatic relations in 1964.
Macron secured a second five-year term after beating his far-right rival Marine Le Pen in a presidential runoff vote on April 24.
Macron won 58.54 percent in the second round of voting compared with 41.46 percent for Le Pen, according to figures released by the French Interior Ministry.
Some 48.7 million French were registered to vote. Voter abstention stood at 28.2 percent, up 2.7 percentage points from the second-round vote in 2017.
In her concession speech, Le Pen, 53, described her election performance as a “striking victory” and said that she “will never abandon” the French people. She called on voters to choose her National Rally party in legislative elections in June.
Macron and Le Pen had a similar faceoff in the 2017 election runoff, when Macron won 66 percent of the votes over Le Pen’s 34 percent, making the then 39-year-old Macron the youngest president in France’s history with his victory at the helm of the La Republique en Marche party.
Macron, a centrist, won the first round of the election on April 10 by obtaining 27.8 percent of the ballots cast against Le Pen’s 23.1 percent, among 12 candidates.
The two rivals had spent much time and effort after the first round trying to woo voters who supported leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon, who got 22 percent of the votes in the initial round.
Macron’s presidency in the past five years has been marred by the anti-government Yellow Vest movement, which lasted for many months after November 2018 when the public vented anger over fuel taxes, as well as other social and economic problems.
Before the vote on April 24, there had been great concerns in the United States and the European Union over the possibility of a win by Le Pen, who has long been critical of NATO and the EU.
While Le Pen has condemned Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, she is known for having close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
She had earlier stated her desire to pull France out of NATO’s integrated command structure “so as to be no longer caught up in conflicts that are not ours”.
While Le Pen’s party, the National Rally, is no longer talking about leaving the EU, the Schengen visa-free zone and the euro, she has been widely viewed as a euroskeptic.
“Macron’s victory is in fact a narrow one. It would be inappropriate to claim that his score reflects true support, as many voted for him against Le Pen,” said Tomasz Michalski, an associate professor at the Economics and Decision Sciences Department of the HEC Paris business school.
He noted that Le Pen’s score of nearly 42 percent shows the considerable progress she has made and the widespread support for her ideas.
“The underlying problems that led to the ascendance of Le Pen remain unresolved: deindustrialization, high unemployment among the least skilled, labor market polarization, a great urban divergence, the ‘gig’ economy, hollowing of public services, especially in small cities and rural areas, and one of the lowest upward mobilities in OECD countries,” Michalski said.