By Athena Papakosta

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, left yesterday for Beijing, where today they will meet the president of China, Xi Jinping.

Analysts say the two should work together as a tight-knit team to push China to take more steps to help end the war in Ukraine while also seeking to rebalance trade relations with the European Union through subtle diplomatic moves. Join.

The British BBC network comments that the two leaders, the French president and the head of the European Commission, will “act” assuming two opposite roles.

Emmanuel Macron will be the “good cop” and Ursula von der Leyen, the bad guy.

Citing a press representative of Élysée, the British network emphasizes that the French president has identified points of convergence with Beijing’s proposal for the end of the war in Ukraine, while, as far as Ursula von der Leyen is concerned, sources say that he will use the document of the strong relationship of the Union with the American president, Joe Biden, and of the support of NATO.

The French president has already made sure to build bridges in Beijing by stressing, upon his arrival, that China can “play a major role” in order to find a “peace path” in Ukraine. However, Emmanuel Macron before leaving Paris – and having hung up the phone with President Biden – made sure to warn China that it is not in its interest to arm Russia.

Like German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the French president prefers to maintain trade ties with Beijing. For this reason, he has almost 60 French business leaders with him on this trip. “Increasingly we are hearing voices expressing strong concern about the future of West-China relations and in a way they end up in an inevitable escalation of tensions. I would not like to believe this scenario,” he underlined.

The Americans are closely following the development of this double visit to the Chinese capital. They know that China is Europe’s trading partner and that the European Union is deeply divided over how to handle Beijing. On the one hand, member states, such as France and Germany, who desire close ties with China, and on the other, the former members of the Soviet Union, who are reluctant towards Beijing, preferring a tougher European attitude towards it. But Beijing knows the same. For this reason, Macron’s choice to invite Ursula von der Leyen was also made to send a message of European unity to the Asian giant.

But the president of the European Commission arrived in Beijing with more burdens on her back and her journey is not easy. First, a week ago he gave a tough speech in which he said “we need to review our trade and economic relationship” with China. In his second year, he knows very well the pressure of the United States towards Europe for a tougher attitude towards China, but also the different views of the 27 member states he represents. The question remains where she will draw a red line and whether she will do so as she – like Macron – does not want a head-on collision with Beijing.

It is a balancing act that comes as Xi Jinping visited Moscow two weeks ago.