Emmanuel Macron, the French president, will travel to China next week for a rare visit to the growing superpower, in an unpleasant balancing act between his global statesman ambitions and his domestic fight to quell humiliating pension demonstrations.
The French president is attempting to keep his packed diplomatic calendar on track after his decision to drive controversial pension reform through parliament earlier this month caused riots and violence in French towns.
But the chaotic scenes of burning piles of rubbish in Paris, which were broadcast around the world, have already forced Macron to cancel a state visit by Britain’s King Charles, an embarrassment which did not go unnoticed in diplomatic circles.
“It’s a very prestigious thing to host the first visit abroad of the King of England, it doesn’t happen every day. If you can’t pull it off, it’s a problem,” the ambassador of a European country told Reuters.
“It’s clear it is weakening him,” another EU diplomat said. “It’s hard to measure the impact, but there is one.”
The protests, which will see unions stage an 11th nationwide strike during Macron’s time in Beijing, come as the French president is trying to regain the initiative on the war in Ukraine and play a leadership role in Europe.
That hasn’t escaped Chinese observers.
“The protests bring a large amount of risk and France needs a diplomatic highlight, especially since it wants to play the role of Europe’s leader,” said Wang Yiwei, director of the Centre for European Studies at Renmin University in China.
Macron will also need to keep in mind China’s tactic of playing divide and rule, said a non-Western diplomat who suggested China may try to use the trip to place a wedge in the Western camp and lure France away from the United States.