French President Emmanuel Macron (right) concluded his visit to China and was interviewed on his private plane on his return trip. He said that Europe should avoid being involved in the conflict between the United States and China over the Taiwan issue, and emphasized that Europe has strategic autonomy and should not follow the United States.

The picture shows Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping strolling in Guangzhou to enjoy the scenery on the 7th.

(AFP file photo)

[Central News Agency] French President Emmanuel Macron accepted an interview with the European political news website Politico on the presidential plane at the end of his visit to China, saying that Europe should avoid being involved in the US-China conflict over the Taiwan issue, and emphasized that Europe's strategic autonomy should not follow the United States.

Macron (Emmanuel Macron) ended his three-day state visit to China on the 8th. He was interviewed by European media Politico on his special plane to defend his visit to China, which was bombarded by various circles.

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According to a special article published today by Politico, for Macron, Europe should reduce its "reliance on the United States" and "avoid being drawn into the US-China conflict over the Taiwan issue".

After a rare six-hour conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Macron revisited his near obsession with the concept of Europe's "strategic autonomy" in a media interview, with the aim of making the EU a "third power". And France undoubtedly plays a front-line role.

Macron told the media on the presidential plane from Beijing to Guangzhou that the great crisis in Europe is "being involved in a crisis that does not belong to us, which will prevent us from building strategic autonomy".

Politico analyzed that Xi Jinping and the CCP are keen to support Macron’s concept of strategic autonomy, because both CCP leaders and Beijing scholars are convinced that the West is declining and China is rising, and the weakening of transatlantic relations (the United States and the European Union) will accelerate this trend.

Macron's strategic autonomy seems to be based on the concept of emphasizing not being in league with the United States.

He said: "The question for Europeans is: Is it in our interest to hasten the Taiwan (crisis)? No. What is worse is that Europeans think they should be followers on this issue, gaining from American issues and China's overreaction inspired".

A few hours after Macron's plane took off to return to France, China launched a large-scale military exercise around Taiwan in retaliation for President Tsai Ing-wen's visit to the United States to meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

People close to Macron said he was satisfied that Beijing would wait at least until he had left Chinese airspace before launching a simulated "encircle Taiwan" exercise.

According to French officials who accompanied Macron on the trip, Macron and Xi Jinping actually had "intensive discussions" on the Taiwan issue.

However, compared with the United States and even the European Union, Macron seems to take a more "mediation and appeasement" stance.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Union Executive Committee who accompanied Macron on his visit to China and participated in part of the trip, told Xi Jinping during the tripartite meeting on the 6th, "Stability across the Taiwan Strait is extremely important, and threats to change the status quo by force are unacceptable. "; Xi Jinping replied, "Anyone who expects China to compromise on the Taiwan issue is wishful thinking."

According to Politico's analysis, Macron clearly agrees with Xi Jinping's point of view.

"The Europeans can't solve the Ukraine crisis, how can we credibly say on Taiwan: 'Be careful, if you mess around, we'll come forward?' If you really want to escalate tensions, do it," he said. .

Yanmei Xie, a geopolitical analyst at GaveKal Dragonomics, pointed out that "Europe is more willing to accept a world in which China becomes a regional hegemon. Some European leaders even believe that such a world order may be more beneficial to Europe."

Politico revealed that during the nearly two-hour tripartite meeting, Macron and Van der Leyen had similar positions, but during the next four hours of private conversations between Macron and Xi Jinping, Macron's attitude and tone catered to many.

In his visit, Macron emphasized Europe's growing dependence on the United States for arms and energy, saying Europe should reduce "the extraterritoriality of the dollar".

Politico writes that this mirrors the goals of important Russian and Chinese policies.

Politico emphasized at the end of the article that in order to obtain an exclusive interview, it agreed to give the French presidential palace the right to review, but "many of Macron's more direct remarks about Taiwan were taken down by the presidential palace."

Macron's interviews criticizing the United States and accommodating China's stance on Taiwan sparked discussion.

Antoine Bondaz, a researcher at the French Strategic Research Foundation (FRS), wrote on Twitter: "Macron only talks about the risk of China's "overreaction", but forgets China's ambition to conquer Taiwan and change the status quo. Contradictions", and criticized Macron for not defining European interests, saying only that they were "different from the United States".