From left to right: Juncker, Xi, Macron and Merkel

At the end of his visit to Italy, Monaco and France, Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. European and Chinese leaders sought to reassure each other over economic cooperation despite the increasing U.S. move towards protectionism, and EU leaders told Xi they were still open to joining China’s “Belt and Road Initiative”. Xi said China was determined to protect the world’s multilateral system, and was ready to continue with “opening up”. He also invited European countries to join the Belt and Road scheme – which Washington has characterized as a Chinese “vanity project”.

Europeans still wanted to participate in the BRI. The visit took place amid growing European skepticism about China’s influence and follows a decision by the EU to brand China a “systemic rival” in a policy paper earlier this month.“We understand that China does not like the expression ‘rivals’, but it is a compliment describing our shared ambitions,” Juncker told a press conference.

Xi said China’s process of opening up its economy to the world had allowed the country to achieve in the space of 40 years what the Europeans had managed over the course of the Industrial Revolution. “We will continue to open up,” he said, “and to make the world a better open economy.” The Chinese President added: “In today’s China-EU relationship, cooperation is the defining feature even if there are differences or competition to some extent. The Belt and Road Initiative has enriched the world’s multilateral system; we invite all countries, including France, to join.”

French President Macron said the four leaders had discussed “friendship” as well as “existing rivalries” between the EU and China and agreed to seek a “trust-based partnership. Our common will is to avoid new trade conflicts and isolationist policies,” Macron said. But a few days before meeting Xi, Macron said that “the period of European naivety is over,” and that letting Chinese companies buy up EU infrastructure such as ports had been a “strategic error”, the South China Morning Post reports.