Geopolitical angling and the French president’s visit to Beijing

Agence France-Presse reports: “French President Emmanuel Macron will visit China for three days starting January 8, the Chinese foreign ministry said Tuesday, after the young leader declared the need for a stronger Europe to ‘face China.’” The Diplomat has published a piece (paywall) by Valérie Niquet, head of the Asia division at Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique, Paris, titled “What does France’s president want to achieve in China?”

• “The ambition of the Chinese leadership is to persuade the French president to position himself on issues like North Korea as a ‘go-between,’ defending ‘dialogue’ against the more ‘aggressive’ posture of the United States, and to implicitly recognize by his choices the pre-eminence of China in the region,” according to Niquet.
• “Macron may be all too ready to welcome that role,” Niquet argues, but that it “cannot serve the interests of France in an area where the will to find support against a destabilizing and too assertive Chinese power is the common point of all of Beijing’s neighbors.”
• However, France has already shown some strength in looking after its own interests, including supporting “the strengthening of regulations for Chinese investments in sensitive sectors,” and official caution about the Belt and Road Initiative.
• Niquet concludes that the “successes of the new French presidency’s ‘Asian policy’ will be appreciated only in light of the capacity that Paris will demonstrate — by concrete actions — to maintain a necessary balance between the powers of the region.”

• • India
    Doklam standoff: Vijay Keshav Gokhale, expert on China, is new foreign secretary / Economic Times of India
    After Doklam, India-China face-off in Arunachal Pradesh / New Indian Express
  • Pakistan
    Door open to yuan-based trade with China: State Bank of Pakistan / Dawn
  • North Korea
    North Korea’s overtures welcomed by China, but U.S. is skeptical / SCMP
    China’s point man on North Korea promoted in diplomat reshuffle / SCMP
  • Natural gas imports
    China set to top Japan as world’s biggest natural gas importer / Reuters
  • Donkey skin
    To sate China’s demand, African donkeys are stolen and skinned / NYT (paywall)
  • Cleaning up dodgy business in Tianjin
    China names acting mayor for city of Tianjin after bribery scandal / Reuters
  • Transportation infrastructure
    Beijing launches three subway lines / Xinhua
    Shenzhen in China has 16,359 electric buses, more than America’s biggest cities’ conventional bus fleet / Quartz
    Full speed ahead for China’s fast rail network with US$112 billion investment / SCMP