Macron’s Visit to China: Ill-Conceived, Curiously-Timed, and Off-Track

French President Emmanuel Macron was in China—purportedly to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to urge him to mediate the Russia-Ukraine crisis—at a time when violent protests took place at home in response to his wildly unpopular unilateral move to raise the age of pension eligibility. And if you think that (coincidence?) put a dent in his domestic and global favorability ratings, just wait until you hear what was actually accomplished in Beijing.
According to the Washington Post, Macron made it clear that he wanted to distance himself from the U.S. and many of his European allies by essentially throwing Taiwan under the bus. In order to secure 15 billion dollar worth of trade deals, he not only expressed reluctance to interfere should China invade the island democracy, but pledged to “deepen exchanges” between French military forces in the Pacific and the Chinese military.
Playing right into Chinese talking point of encouraging the emerging “multipolar” world order, Macron indicated that Europe should not become “America’s followers” and that France should not get involved in other nations’ crises.
The purported objective of the visit was to leverage Xi’s relationship with the Kremlin to try to restore peace in Ukraine; however, of the 51 talking points of the joint declaration emanating from the trip, only one—and vaguely at that—mentioned anything about the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
As China has become the world’s fastest growing economy, it obviously proved irresistible—and even understandable–for Macron to want to tap new waters in order to help support one of the most floundering domestic agendas on the European continent. However, the timing of the visit–combined with the absolute pandering diplomacy utilized during the visit—render disconcerting implications for global stability as a repercussion of the visit.