French President Emmanuel Macron met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing last week. Xi said China stands ready to work closely with France to enhance cooperation including under the framework of the Belt and Road initiative, to which Macron replied that France would like to take an active part in the initiative. Macron began his three-day visit in Xian as a gesture to Xi’s New Silk Road project to connect Asia and Europe by road, rail and sea. Macron said the Belt & Road Initiative “represents a real opportunity to create bridges, through exchange, between countries and civilizations, just as the ancient silk routes once did”.

Both Presidents oversaw the signing of business deals worth billions of dollars in nuclear, aviation and other key sectors, including a memorandum of understanding for Areva and Chinese counterpart CNNC to build a €10 billion nuclear spent fuel reprocessing plant in China.

Airbus announced an agreement with Chinese partners to increase production of its A320 jet in Tianjin to six aircraft per month. A contract for the sale of 184 Airbus A320 narrow-body jets is expected to be finalized soon and Airbus also hopes to sell mid-range A350 and long-haul A380 passenger jets to China. Chinese officials assured Macron that they would respect market-share parity between Airbus and Boeing.

Chinese online retailer JD.com announced plans to sell French goods worth €2 billion to Chinese consumers over the next two years, including wine and cognac. China also agreed to lift a 16-year-old embargo on the import of French beef within six months. “Our beef currently has no access to China for sanitary reasons. But with French beef consumption falling 5% a year, we have to find new markets,” said Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, who was traveling with Macron, together with about 50 French business leaders. China imports nearly 1.1 million tons of beef a year, with 90% currently coming from Brazil, Uruguay, Australia and New Zealand. French officials also said talks were continuing about China’s ban on French poultry, imposed in 2015 after an outbreak of bird flu.

Melania and Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan

U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania paid a two-day state visit to China on November 8 and 9, starting with a visit to the Forbidden City. High on the agenda were the situation on the Korean peninsula and the trade imbalance between the two countries, market access and technology transfers.

The two Presidents witnessed the signing of deals worth USD253 billion following formal talks in Beijing, making the U.S. head of state’s visit to China one of the most fruitful for Chinese and U.S. businesses in terms of the value of agreements struck. They agreed to continue high-level dialogue. Trump and Xi characterized the visit as a success, but their joint press conference lasted less than 15 minutes. President Xi said it is necessary to have continued in-depth discussions on trade and lessen restrictions on the investment environment.

Contracts signed included the Chinese purchase of 300 Boeing jets for USD37 billion, mobile phone chipsets from Qualcomm for USD12 billion, USD1.6 billion of soybeans, and vehicles and parts from General Motors and Ford for a total of USD11.7 billion. Other agreements included memoranda of understanding on liquefied natural gas sales and industrial development cooperation. One of the most substantive agreements was a gas deal between the State of Alaska, Alaska Gasline Development Corp, China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec), China Investment Corp (CIC) and the Bank of China (BOC), involving a total investment of up to USD43 billion. Officials said the joint development agreement will create up to 12,000 American jobs and reduce the trade deficit between the U.S. and Asia by USD10 billion a year. China’s major online retailer JD.com also agreed to buy USD1.2 billion of American beef and pork.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said: “Today’s signings are a good example of how we can productively build up our bilateral trade.”

China posted the second highest monthly trade surplus of USD26.6 billion with the United States in October, hours ahead of Donald Trump’s first visit to China as U.S. President. The bilateral trade surplus increased 12.2% from a year earlier. In the first three quarters of the year, bilateral trade increased 13.7% year-on-year to USD422.64 billion. China’s exports to the U.S. grew 11.5%, outpaced by a nearly 20% expansion in imports from the latter. China receives 26% of U.S.-exported Boeing aircraft, 56% of its soy beans, 16% of its automobiles, 15% of its farm produce, and 15% of its integrated circuits.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivering a speech at the APEC CEO Summit in Danang, Vietnam

Over 300 Chinese business representatives attended this year’s APEC CEO Summit, including representatives from the State Grid Corp of China, Huawei, Bank of China (BOC) and the Aluminum Corp of China, making the Chinese delegation the largest among foreign groups.

Immediately after concluding his state visit to China, U.S. President Donald Trump traveled to Danang, Vietnam to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, where he again met Chinese President Xi Jinping as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin. While Trump had refrained from criticizing his hosts in Beijing, in Danang Trump and Xi presented diverging blueprints for the global trade order at the CEO Summit. Trump’s speech centered on his protectionist ‘America First’ policy, while President Xi presented China as a defender of “irreversible” globalization.

“The building of an Asia Pacific free-trade era is a long-cherished dream of the business community of our region,” Xi said. “This is a new journey for greater integration with the world.” Xi heralded the rise of multilateralism as he touted China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” to revive trade and infrastructure from Asia to Africa, Europe and beyond. He said that over the next 15 years, China would aim to import USD24 trillion in goods, drawing in USD2 trillion in direct investment and generating a similar amount in outbound flows. He added: “All businesses registered in China will be treated as equals.” Xi also invited countries in the region to “board China’s express train of development”. “In pursuing economic globalization, we should make it more open, more inclusive, more balanced, more equitable and more beneficial to all,” Xi said.

The 11 remaining members of the defunct Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) reached an agreement to proceed with the trade pact under a new name – “Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership” (CPTPP) – without the United States. China, which is not involved, said the revised arrangement would not affect initiatives backed by Beijing, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on a two-day visit to Manila, said he supported the idea of joint energy ventures with the Philippines in the disputed South China Sea, warning that unilateral action could cause problems and damage both sides. The Philippine Energy Ministry said drilling at the Reed Bank, suspended in 2014, might resume before year-end, and the government was preparing to offer new blocks to investors for bidding in December.

Chinese President Xi Jinping briefly visited Moscow and Berlin on his way to the G20 Summit in Hamburg on July 7 and 8. Xi and U.S. President Donald Trump had their second face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of the summit to paper over bilateral tensions, including on trade and North Korea. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said both leaders agreed to maintain healthy and stable bilateral ties, “deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and properly manage their differences and sensitive issues”. China and the United States decided to hold the first round of a comprehensive economic dialogue on July 19, and launch the first round of a law enforcement, cyber security, social and cultural dialogue at an early date. The full text of President Xi’s speech at the G20 Summit is available here.

China’s special relationship with Moscow will continue to develop no matter what happens in the rest of the world, President Xi Jinping said during his sixth trip to Russia as China’s President. Presidents Xi and Putin witnessed the signing of a number of documents to boost cooperation in investment, energy, finance and agriculture. Putin presented Xi with the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle, one of Russia’s highest honors. Xi also called for cooperation on the Arctic passage with Russia to help jointly build a Silk Road through the ice. described China’s relationship with Russia as “the best ever in history”.

President Xi Jinping and Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to work together more closely on a range of issues. “Chinese-German relations are now about to have a new start where we need new breakthroughs,” Xi told a joint news conference with Merkel in Berlin.