France, China Strike Deals in Civilian Nuclear Energy

Facts

• French Pres. Emmanuel Macron and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, struck multiple cooperation deals, including civilian nuclear and green energy, on Thursday in China.¹
• As China and France aim to achieve carbon neutrality to meet their ambitious climate goals, the two leaders agreed to construct a China-France carbon neutrality center.²
• As part of trade and technological deals between Paris and Beijing, French aircraft manufacturer Airbus got the go-ahead to open a second assembly line in its Tianjin factory — scheduled to be fully operational in 2025 — so the company can double its production capacity of Airbus A320 models.³
• French state energy company EDF and China's nuclear power conglomerate China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) also renewed their agreement to build new nuclear power plants.⁴
• Meanwhile, French water and waste management company Suez signed a contract with Wanhua Chemical Group and China Railway Shanghai Engineering Bureau Group to build an industrial seawater desalination plant in Penglai.⁵
• In 2022, trade in goods between China — France's seventh-largest customer and second-largest supplier — and France reportedly crossed the €100B ($109.17B) mark for the first time, with year-on-year growth of 14.6%.⁶

Sources: ¹Www.euractiv.com, ²Xinhua, ³South china morning post, ⁴Reuters, ⁵Marketwatch and ⁶Global times.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Cgtn. China plays a significant role in global governance and is a growing influence on developing economies, which is why Europe must not ruin its economic ties with China for Xi Jinping's support to Russia. As France faces an uneven global economic recovery after the pandemic, more cooperation with the PRC could help it gain economic advantages as well as maintain global industrial and supply chain stability.
• Narrative B, as provided by Al Jazeera. Macron's visit to China is crucial to reviving ties with China in 2023 to prepare for 2024, which will be the year of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations. However, it remains to be seen if Macron's powers of persuasion can go beyond firming up a crucial trade partnership and persuade China to urge Russia to end the Ukraine war — in shared responsibility for peace and stability.
• Narrative C, as provided by Reuters. Xi Jinping's diplomatic engagement with Macron is an attempt to counter the US plans to isolate the PRC by putting Chinese companies on blacklists and export watchlists. Business deals with France are crucial for China to wriggle out of containment by Washington amid differences over Taiwan and the Ukraine war, as well as prevent Europe from aligning more closely with the US economically.

Predictions