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China’s Xi to visit France, Serbia, Hungary as Beijing appears to seek a larger role in Ukraine

FILE - Chinese President Xi Jinping talks to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Great Hall of the People, on April 26, 2024, in Beijing, China. Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit France, Serbia and Hungary next week as Beijing appears to seek a larger role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that has upended global political and economic security, China’s foreign ministry said Monday, April 29. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool, File)

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BEIJING, China (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit France, Serbia and Hungary next week as Beijing appears to seek a larger role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that has upended global political and economic security.

The visit by Xi, China’s president and head of the ruling Communist Party, is his first to Europe in five years and will “inject new momentum to the peaceful development of the world,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a daily briefing on Monday.

China claims neutrality in the Ukraine conflict, but Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin declared their governments had a “no limits friendship” before Moscow’s February 2022 attack on Ukraine. China has refused to call the Russian assault an invasion and has been accused of bolstering Russia’s financial and technological ability to continue producing weapons for use against Ukraine, which is awaiting tens of billions of dollars in military aid to counter Russia’s aggression.

The Foreign Ministry said Xi’s visits will begin April 5 and end April 10 but gave no further details.

The visits will be closely watched in Washington for any signs of diminishing support for key U.S. foreign policy goals.

French President Emmanuel Macron prompted concerns in Washington during a visit to China last year after saying that France wouldn’t blindly follow the U.S. in getting involved in crises that are not of its concern, an apparent reference to China’s demands for unification with Taiwan.

China has built strong relations with Serbia, including making a semi-secret delivery of an anti-aircraft missile system to the former Yugoslav republic in 2022.

The government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán delayed Sweden’s entry into NATO for months. NATO expansion has been cited by China as provoking Putin to invade Ukraine.

Orbán, a right-wing populist who has forged close ties with Russia, has said that criticism of Hungary’s governance by Swedish politicians soured relations between the two countries and led to reluctance among lawmakers in his Fidesz party to support Sweden’s NATO entry.

The visits come after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Friday with Xi in Beijing and stressed the importance of “responsibly managing” the differences between the United States and China as the two sides butt heads over a number of contentious bilateral, regional and global issues .

Also on Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu hailed military cooperation with China during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana.

He said the cooperation is important as “new hotbeds of tension are emerging and old ones are exacerbating. In essence, this is the result of geopolitical adventures, selfish neo-colonial actions of the West.”

China warns U.S. of 'downward spiral' as Antony Blinken meets with Xi Jinping

HONG KONG — Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday as he wrapped up a three-day visit to China dominated by contentious issues and warnings from his hosts of another “downward spiral” in relations.

The two men met Friday afternoon local time at the Great Hall of the People, an ornate and cavernous building next to Tiananmen Square.

Xi noted that this year is the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China, and said the two countries “should be partners rather than adversaries.”

“The world is big enough to accommodate the simultaneous development and prosperity of both China and the United States,” he said, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry readout, adding that U.S.-China relations will stabilize once the U.S. takes “a positive and constructive view of China’s development.”

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Blinken said the U.S. did not aim to hold back China’s development or decouple the world’s two largest economies.

“We want China’s economy to grow,” he said, but “the way China grows matters.”

“That means fostering a healthy economic relationship where American workers and firms are treated equally and fairly,” said Blinken, who cited what he called China’s unfair trade practices and the risk that Chinese industrial overcapacity in key industries such as solar panels and electric vehicles could result in U.S. and other markets being flooded with Chinese products.

The visit is Blinken’s second in less than a year as the two superpowers work to stabilize ties with renewed talks despite a growing list of geopolitical differences.

A primary goal of Blinken’s visit to China was to warn about its support for Russia’s war against Ukraine, which began weeks after Moscow and Beijing declared a “no limits” partnership in 2022. Though China does not appear to be supplying Russia with lethal assistance, Blinken said Friday that it was providing machine tools, microelectronics and other dual-use items that make it the “top supplier” of Russia’s defense industrial base.

“Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without China’s support,” he said.

Other issues on the agenda included Chinese economic and trade practices the U.S. views as unfair, Chinese aggression in the South China Sea , stability in the Taiwan Strait, North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and the Israel-Hamas war.

Earlier Friday, Blinken met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where foreign dignitaries are often received.

“There’s no substitute, in our judgment, for face-to-face diplomacy in order to try and move forward, but also to make sure that we’re as clear as possible about the areas where we have differences, at the very least, to avoid misunderstandings, to avoid miscalculations,” Blinken told Wang before the meeting. 

Speaking through an interpreter before the meeting, Wang said the U.S.-China relationship “has gone through ups and downs and twists and turns.” 

He said the relationship was beginning to stabilize but that “negative factors” were increasing.

“China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges,” Wang said, in an apparent reference to U.S. export controls and other measures that Beijing says are intended to limit its economic growth.

“Should China and the United States keep to the right direction of moving forward with stability or return to a downward spiral?” he said. “This is a major question before our two countries.”

Blinken later described his meeting with Wang, which lasted more than three hours, as “extensive and constructive.” 

According to a State Department readout, the two men discussed next steps on a range of commitments that Xi and President Joe Biden made at their summit in California in November, including advancing cooperation on counternarcotics, military-to-military communication, talks on artificial intelligence risks and safety, and facilitating people-to-people exchanges.

Blinken announced Friday that the U.S. and China would hold their first talks on artificial intelligence in the coming weeks.

The Biden-Xi summit, the first encounter between the two leaders in a year, was intended to stabilize U.S.-China relations that had reached their lowest point in decades amid disputes over trade, technology, the status of Taiwan and the downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon over U.S. territory.

Though ties have improved since then, they are being tested by the strengthening of U.S. security alliances in the Asia-Pacific, U.S. concerns about Chinese goods flooding global markets, U.S. inquiries into China’s electric vehicle , shipbuilding and other industries, the possibility of increased U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods , and the passage this week of legislation that could result in a U.S. ban on the Chinese app TikTok .

The legislation, which Biden signed into law on Wednesday as Blinken was arriving in China, also includes $8 billion for security in Taiwan, a self-ruling island democracy that Beijing claims as its territory, and the broader Indo-Pacific, where the U.S. and China are competing for influence.

Blinken last visited China in June, when he also met with Xi. This trip also included a stop in Shanghai, where Blinken met with U.S. business leaders and visited the Shanghai campus of New York University .

Jennifer Jett is the Asia Digital Editor for NBC News, based in Hong Kong.

China’s Xi Jinping arrives in US ahead of summit with Joe Biden

Xi is on his first visit to the US in six years as Washington looks to cool tensions with Beijing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in the United States for his first visit in six years, after US President Joe Biden said his goal in their bilateral talks this week was to restore normal communications with Beijing, including military-to-military contacts.

Xi is due to meet Biden near San Francisco on Wednesday morning US time, before attending the annual summit of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping.

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The summit will be their first face-to-face meeting in a year and follows months of high-level meetings to prepare the ground, after tensions between the two countries spiked over issues from trade to human rights and the pandemic.

Speaking ahead of his departure, Biden said his goal was simply to improve the bilateral relationship.

“We’re not trying to decouple from China. What we’re trying to do is change the relationship for the better,” Biden told reporters at the White House before heading to San Francisco.

Asked what he hoped to achieve at the meeting, he said he wanted “to get back on a normal course of corresponding; being able to pick up the phone and talk to one another if there’s a crisis; being able to make sure our [militaries] still have contact with one another”.

Xi waved from the door of his Air China plane before walking down the steps to meet US officials, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, who were waiting on the tarmac.

He is on his first visit to US since 2017 when he met then president Donald Trump.

China, which regularly talks about “red lines” on issues such as the self-ruled island Taiwan, which it claims as its own and its expansive claims in the South China Sea , has been more circumspect about its expectations for the summit.

A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry mentioned only “in-depth communication” and “major issues concerning world peace” when asked about the meeting this week.

Nevertheless, analysts said the very fact the talks were taking place was significant.

“The importance of the much-expected meeting between President Biden and President Xi in San Francisco cannot be understated, no matter the likely shallowness of the outcomes,” Alicia Garcia Herrero of investment banking group Natixis wrote in an analysis ahead of the summit.

Protests expected

Crowds gathered along the route of Xi’s motorcade to the luxury hotel where the Chinese delegation is staying.

Some held signs that read “End CCP,” the initials of Chinese Communist Party. Another sign read “Warmly Welcome President Xi Jinping” and was stuck to concrete bollards.

Outside the hotel, several hundred Beijing supporters waved US and Chinese flags as they waited and played the patriotic song Ode to the Motherland through loudspeakers

Scuffles broke out with the few anti-Xi protesters who were there, but police quickly intervened to restore calm.

Pro-China and anti-China demonstrators also gathered near the Moscone Center, the venue where many of the APEC meetings were being held. Larger protests, including by rights groups critical of Xi’s policies in Tibet, Hong Kong and towards Muslim Uyghurs, are expected near the summit venue on Wednesday.

Xi and Biden are expected to meet at Filoli Estate, a country house museum about 40km (25 miles) south of San Francisco, the Associated Press news agency reported, citing three senior officials in the US administration who requested anonymity. The venue has not yet been confirmed by the White House and Chinese government.

While economic issues are likely to be high on the agenda of the meeting, including steps to curb the production of the potent synthetic opioid drug fentanyl , increasing geopolitical tensions are likely to dominate discussions.

White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that Biden and Xi would talk about the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza as well as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine .

While Washington has sought to reset ties with China, it has also signalled that will not be at the expense of key US concerns.

Biden is “not going to be afraid to – to confront where confrontation is needed on issues where we don’t see eye to eye with President Xi and the PRC,” Kirby said, using the initials for the People’s Republic of China.

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told APEC ministers that the US believed in “a region where economies are free to choose their own path … where goods, ideas, people flow lawfully and freely”.

Blinken did not mention China by name, but his language echoed US rhetoric in recent years in which Washington has accused China of bullying smaller countries in the Asia Pacific and trying to undermine what the US and its allies call the “rules-based” international order.

'No detail too small': How the U.S. and China planned President Xi's visit

W ASHINGTON — A presidential meeting at an undisclosed location. Students lining the streets waving Chinese flags. A $2,000-per-plate dinner with the most powerful business executives in America.

Every aspect of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to California this week has been highly choreographed, down to what he sees outside the window during a motorcade ride and what camera angle he’s recorded from, according to people familiar with the planning. 

“There is no detail too small,” said Kurt Campbell, the White House coordinator for the Indo-Pacific.

Any meeting between two heads of state involves a degree of pomp and circumstance, but President Joe Biden’s long-awaited sit-down with Xi on Wednesday is the product of a painstaking process to accommodate China’s many requests. The behind-the-scenes effort is a sign of Beijing’s anxiety over the optics that could result from Xi’s first visit to the U.S. in six years.

Overall, China is looking for Xi’s trip to California to be seen as a “grand visit,” officials said.

The White House isn’t even sharing the precise location of Wednesday ’s meeting , with officials publicly citing “operational security” concerns but privately conceding the Chinese didn’t want it disclosed to try to minimize protests. To try to visually overwhelm any protests, Chinese officials are expected to bring in students from across California to wave Chinese flags and show support for Xi. The move is meant to ensure Xi has a “pleasant visual” as he moves from event to event, a former official familiar with the planning said.

“Those will be the pictures that will be beamed back home,” said Victor Cha, a former National Security Council director for Asian affairs.

“Nothing can go wrong. It has to be 100% perfect,” Cha said, adding that the goal for the Chinese is that Xi be “treated like an emperor, and anything short of that or embarrassing is really the absolute worst thing that can happen for them.”

The U.S. also has cleaned up San Francisco, including clearing out encampments of people experiencing homelessness and sprucing up the streets.

Chinese officials have privately expressed concern to their U.S. counterparts about what Xi will experience during his travel, according to people familiar with the discussions.

They insisted that the meeting be held before a broader gathering of Asia-Pacific leaders in San Francisco this week and at a location entirely separate from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit site, two current and former U.S. officials said. China’s request was designed to elevate Xi’s stature above that of the other world leaders traveling to California this week, the officials said.

Another event where Xi will optically stand a cut above his counterparts is scheduled to take place Wednesday evening.

After he meets with Biden, Xi is scheduled to headline a $2,000-a-plate dinner with top U.S. CEOs and other dignitaries, officials said. They said that Biden isn’t expected be there because he’ll be hosting a separate dinner but that some high-level administration officials might attend. 

Xi plans to deliver a major address at the dinner, which is being organized by American think tanks, including the Asia Society and the U.S. China Business Council, officials said. The evening also will include a private VIP reception beforehand for key executives, they said.

The Chinese are keenly focused on courting the business community, as U.S. investment in China has been sliding in recent years, a huge priority area for Xi during the California visit. The CEOs dinner is also meant as a signal to Washington, according to experts, about the strong ties the Chinese government has with some influential business leaders, as the Chinese economy struggles to recover post-pandemic.

“It’s crucial for those business leaders to listen to Chinese senior officials about what’s happening [with China’s economy] and to solve the doubts they have in mind,” said Mike Liu, a vice president and senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization.

Xi last visited the U.S. in 2017 , when he went to Florida to meet with President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate. 

Xi last spoke with Biden a year ago this week at a meeting in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of the summit of the Group of 20 industrial and emerging-market nations. Relations soured three months later after the Biden administration shot down a Chinese spy balloon that had flown over the U.S. and Secretary of State Antony Blinken abruptly canceled a trip to Beijing.

Biden administration officials have spent the months since then trying to reduce tensions with China, with the goal of getting a meeting between the two leaders on the calendar. In that sense, the U.S. also has incentive to make sure Xi feels his visit was a success, and it has worked to accommodate China’s requests. 

One of China’s requests was the timing of formally announcing Wednesday’s meeting, an administration official said. China wanted to delay an announcement until Monday, just two days before the meeting, another U.S. official said. The White House compromised and agreed to announce it Friday, though officials wanted to make it public earlier, the official said.

The accommodating approach is a contrast to how China has handled some U.S. presidents’ visits to China. In 2016, for instance, President Barack Obama exited Air Force One from a small staircase in the belly of the plane after a lengthy debate on the ground between U.S. and Chinese officials over using a larger staircase that is typically rolled out for a red-carpet tarmac greeting.  

Campbell, the White House coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, said that for this trip by Xi, administration officials have been involved in discussions with the Chinese about “every possible aspect of the visit,” from camera angles to seating arrangements.

“I think both sides want a high degree of predictability when our two leaders really sit down opposite each other,” he said.

An unpredictable dynamic for Biden that could sour the optics for his goal of presenting the U.S. as economically strong and an example of a thriving democracy: a potential government shutdown .

The federal government is set to run out of funding Friday, the last scheduled day of the Asia-Pacific summit. If there is no agreement on Capitol Hill before then, it’s possible Biden would return to Washington early, officials said, and his engagements in San Francisco would be cut short. On Monday, White House officials suggested a shutdown could be avoided, as well as a scenario that would be less than ideal for U.S. officials who hope a domestic crisis doesn’t overshadow an important global moment hosted by the president.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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Interview highlights

Blinken tells china it's in their interest to stop helping russia.

Steve Inskeep

Reena Advani

Taylor Haney

Majd Al-Waheidi

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Friday. Stefen Chow for NPR hide caption

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Friday.

BEIJING — Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded his visit to China with a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, urging more communication between the U.S. and China even as both men agreed both superpowers did not see eye to eye on a multitude of issues.

The secretary of state spoke with Morning Edition 's Steve Inskeep after meeting China's leader in Beijing.

The U.S. has alleged China is selling vital components to Russia's defense industry after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Blinken told Morning Edition that he warned Chinese counterparts helping Russia is against China's interests, because China wants better relations with European nations that see Russia as a threat.

"If China won't act, we will," Blinken said.

The top U.S. diplomat did not say how Chinese leaders replied in private. But in public, China's foreign ministry rejected the American's advice — saying that the U.S. is "hypocritical" to complain about China's trade with Russia while it aids Ukraine.

The exchange highlights the tense relations between the two nations — with their diplomats frequently being in the same room while not always on the same page.

The Secretary of State spoke with Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, April 26, 2024, in Beijing. Stefen Chow for NPR hide caption

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. To listen to the full interview between NPR's Steve Inskeep and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, use the audio player at the top of this page.

Steve Inskeep: I have followed China's public statements during this day of meetings that you've had. And the public statements are pretty pointed. China alleged the US has suppressed their economic development and said the U.S. attacked China's core interests, which is pretty harsh as diplomatic language goes. Was President Xi any different in private? Sec. Blinken : We had very direct, very candid, but also, in many ways, constructive conversations about two things. If you go back to the meeting between President Biden and President Xi at the end of last year, in San Francisco and Woodside, they agreed that it was very important, first of all, that we have these regular lines of communication. We had an obligation to manage this relationship responsibly, including dealing very directly with our differences, and also seeing if we could build areas of cooperation where it was in our mutual interest. Inskeep:

One thing you were focused on was trying to get China to stop giving aid to Russia's military as it invades Ukraine. And we can talk about China's attitude here because they've made a public statement. Their foreign ministry spokesman was asked today about ending aid to Russia and he said, look, we trade with Russia and you guys aid Ukraine. You're hypocrites. That sounds like a no, we're not stopping. Seemed to be what they were saying.

Sec. Blinken:

Here's the problem: What China's doing now is not providing weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine, as, for example, North Korea and Iran are. But it is the number one supplier of the critical components for Russia to rebuild its defense industrial base-- machine tools, microelectronics, optics and other things that are going right into a massive production of munitions, of weaponry, of tanks, of armored vehicles, which in turn are going into Ukraine. This is not only a problem for us, it's not only a problem for Ukraine. It's a problem for virtually everyone in Europe because they see this as helping to perpetuate the Russian aggression in Ukraine. They also see it as creating a growing threat to Europe's security.

One of the things that I shared with our Chinese colleagues is that at the very same time that they're trying to develop better relations with Europe, they can't be doing that while at the same time helping to fuel what is the biggest threat to Europe's security since the end of the Cold War. Now, we've already taken steps ourselves. We're prepared to do more if China is not prepared to act to curb this activity.

Inskeep : So you're trying to tell them it's in their interest to stop aiding Russia. But you also told reporters just a short time ago, "if China does not address this problem, we will." What power do you have?

Sec. Blinken: Well, as I said, you've already seen us take action against more than 100 Chinese entities with with sanctions, applying export controls. There are other measures that we're fully prepared to take. And as I said before, if China won't act, we will.

In October, the United States issued new regulations that denied Chinese firms access to the most advanced semiconductors and chips. How much has that one step altered the competition between these two countries?

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China's leader, Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. Stefen Chow for NPR hide caption

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China's leader, Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday.

One of the things that we're very focused on is making sure that when it comes to the highest end technology, we're not in the business of providing or selling things that could be turned against us to undermine our own security. And so what we've done, as we've said, is to work to build a very high fence around a very small yard, because this is not about decoupling our economies. It's not about cutting off trade and investment with China. And as I mentioned a little while ago, we remain the number one market for Chinese products around the world, and there remains significant American investment in China. But when it comes to sensitive technology, we're going to be very, very sure that the most sensitive technology does not wind up where it could turn around and hurt us.

So while we're here in Beijing, we've been talking with a lot of people. And we met a university professor who said America's reputation has declined here, in part because of U.S. support for Israel in its war against Hamas. Then there was a headline in a Chinese paper today, "Chinese satellites detailed destruction to Gaza from the war." And it's been widely reported that China is playing up this conflict in the global south in many nations to undermine the United States. How can you respond to that?

Look, I can't—you know—focus on what they may be saying or doing inside of China. But what I can focus on is two things. One, of course, is what we're doing in the Middle East, both to try to bring this conflict to an end as quickly as possible in a way that allows Israel to ensure that October 7th never happens again, but also to do everything we can to protect the men, women, and children who are caught in this crossfire of Hamas' making.

When it comes to China, one of the things we actually discussed was the Middle East. And I've had, I think, six conversations with my Chinese counterparts since October 7th. I actually believe that China could play a constructive role in trying to make sure that conflict doesn't spread, that we don't see escalation because it has relationships. It has influence with critical countries in the region, including, for example, Iran. So what I'm focused on is trying to encourage China to use that influence in a productive way.

• Xi's upcoming Europe visit to enhance bilateral ties, cooperation

A train runs on the Belgrade-Novi Sad high-speed railway on the Danube river in Serbia, March 12, 2024. (Photo by Ren Weiyun/Xinhua)

Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay state visits to France, Serbia and Hungary from May 5 to 10.

The visits will be the Chinese president's first trip to Europe in the past nearly five years. Xi's trip is expected to enhance bilateral relations with the three countries and boost their mutually beneficial cooperation.

Meanwhile, China and the European Union (EU) are two major forces advancing multipolarity, two major markets in support of globalization, and two major civilizations championing diversity.

Xi's upcoming visits are expected to promote the sustained, steady and sound development of China-Europe relations, help provide more stability and certainty for a turbulent world, and further energize global development.

Unique history, steady partnership

Xi's upcoming visit to France marks his third state visit to the European country after visits in 2014 and 2019. This visit will take place during the 60th anniversary year of China-France diplomatic ties, which gives the visit special meaning as an important opportunity to build on past achievements and guide the future for bilateral ties.

Under the guidance of the two heads of state, China and France have witnessed the steady development of their bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership. The two countries have also become staunch advocates for the multi-polarization of the world and the democratization of international relations.

As today's world is once again at a critical crossroads, China and France should jointly open up a path of peace, security, prosperity and progress for human development, Xi said in January while exchanging congratulations with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

There are many "firsts" in China-France relations: France is the first major Western nation to formalize diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in 1964, and the first major Western country to form a comprehensive strategic partnership with Beijing. The European country is also the first among Western nations to conduct civilian nuclear energy cooperation with China.

Visitors walk past the France pavilion during the second China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, east China, Nov. 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

The unique history of bilateral ties has shaped the "China-France spirit," featuring independence, mutual understanding, foresight, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. Over the past six decades, this dynamic relationship has witnessed numerous historic milestones and tangible accomplishments.

Trade is one example. Bilateral trade between China and France has surged dramatically, increasing 800-fold to reach 78.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. China is now France's largest trading partner in Asia, while France ranks as China's third-largest trading partner and the third-largest source of investment in real terms within the European Union (EU).

China and France are representatives of Eastern and Western civilizations respectively. In recent years, the two sides have continuously expanded their cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

For example, the two sides have cooperated in the restoration and protection of their respective iconic cultural heritages, including the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and China's Terracotta Warriors. The two sides have also set up cultural centers in each other's countries and designated 2024 as the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism.

Though France and China are very different regarding culture, history and political systems, "we can draw inspiration from our differences to progress together," said Eric Alauzet, president of the France-China friendship group of the French National Assembly.

The key is "to talk to each other, to listen to each other, and to understand each other," he said.

Ironclad friendship

"Ironclad" is often used to describe the relationship between China and Serbia.

Xi called Serbia "an ironclad friend" of China during his meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who was in Beijing to attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in October last year.

He said that bilateral relations have withstood changes in the international landscape over recent years and are an example of friendly relations between China and European countries. In response, Vucic said his country is proud of its ironclad friendship with China.

The fruitful Belt and Road cooperation between China and Serbia is a testament to the special relationship.

Steel coils are seen at the steelworks of HBIS Serbia in Smederevo, Serbia, May 5, 2023. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei)

The high-speed train linking the Serbian capital Belgrade and the country's second-largest city Novi Sad is a part of the Belgrade-Budapest railway. It is a key project of cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries under the Belt and Road Initiative.

In March, the Belgrade-Novi Sad high-speed railway marked its second anniversary. Over the past two years, the railway has transported some 6.83 million passengers, effectively enhancing local connectivity.

The rebirth of Smederevo Steelworks is another good example of a strong partnership. The plant, located near the Danube River and considered the pride of Serbia, was once on the verge of bankruptcy. However, with the burgeoning Belt and Road cooperation between China and Serbia, the century-old factory experienced a remarkable resurgence.

After a Chinese company invested in the mill in 2016, things changed: Thousands of jobs were saved, and the production capacity and environmental performance greatly improved.

Meanwhile, Serbia and China are close trading partners. The European country has participated in the China International Import Expo for six consecutive years. Beer, red wines, agricultural products, and other products from Serbia have become favorites with Chinese consumers.

In October 2023, China and Serbia signed a free trade agreement to boost bilateral trade and business ties, the first one inked by China with a country from Central and Eastern Europe.

The brotherly friendship between China and Serbia is also attributed to the fact that they always help each other in hours of urgent need.

In 2008, after a major earthquake occurred in China's Sichuan Province, Serbia mobilized a batch of tents from its military reserves to aid China's disaster areas. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government dispatched a medical expert team to Serbia to assist in combating the outbreak.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (L) greets members of the Chinese medical team via elbow contact in Belgrade, Serbia, March 21, 2020. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

Xi's visit to Serbia will be his second visit to the country in eight years, which will mark an important milestone for strengthening and elevating China-Serbia ties.

New chapter in China-Hungary cooperation

Xi's upcoming visit to Hungary marks his first state visit to the European country as China's head of state.

Over the past 75 years since establishing diplomatic relations, China and Hungary have enjoyed mutual respect, mutual understanding, mutual support and mutual trust.

Hungary is the first European country to sign a Belt and Road cooperation document with China. In 2017, the two countries announced the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership.

A China-Europe freight train bound for Budapest, Hungary leaves a logistics base in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, July 29, 2022. (Photo by Xi Jingyu/Xinhua)

China is willing to continue to be good friends and partners with Hungary who trust each other and pursue win-win cooperation, and take the China-Hungary comprehensive strategic partnership to new levels, Xi said during his meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Beijing in October 2023.

With the care and strategic guidance of the leaders of both countries, China-Hungary connectivity continues to deepen, with pragmatic cooperation flourishing.

Both sides are promoting a deep synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative with Hungary's "Opening to the East" policy. From direct cargo flights between Budapest and Chinese cities including Zhengzhou and Ningbo, to the efficient operation of China-Europe freight trains, the enhanced transportation network has significantly boosted Hungary's position as a transportation hub in the region.

Moreover, both China and Hungary have a long history and splendid cultures, and the peoples of the two countries have enjoyed a time-tested friendship and increasingly close cultural exchanges.

Last year, in his reply to a letter from students of the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school in Hungary, Xi encouraged Hungarian youths to learn more about China and become envoys of the China-Hungary friendship.

A Chinese teacher instructs students on Chinese calligraphy at Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school in Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 24, 2023. (Xinhua/Lian Yi)

Founded in September 2004, the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school is the first full-time school in Central and Eastern Europe that uses both Chinese and the local language for instruction, a model of cultural and educational cooperation between the two countries.

Sustained, sound China-Europe relations

China always views its relations with Europe from a strategic and long-term perspective and views Europe as a comprehensive strategic partner and an important force in a multi-polar world.

The two sides should do more to increase the breadth and depth of cooperation and tighten the bond of shared interests, Xi said in December 2023 during his meeting with President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Beijing.

With concerted efforts from both sides, China and the EU have emerged as each other's second-largest trading partners, underscoring the fact that for China and the EU, cooperation far outweighs competition, and the areas of consensus far exceed differences.

Photo taken on May 27, 2021 shows the Kaposvar solar power plant in Kaposvar, Hungary. Hungary inaugurated the country's largest solar power plant, which was built by China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) near the southwestern city of Kaposvar. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

In 2023, the China-Europe freight train service had connected 219 cities in 25 European countries, establishing a secure and efficient lifeline for global industrial and supply chains.

Meanwhile, China has granted visa-free entry to multiple European countries, facilitating personnel exchanges and economic and trade activities between the two sides.

Key cooperation projects under the Belt and Road, such as the Belgrade-Budapest railway, the Port of Piraeus in Greece, and the Peljesac Bridge in Croatia, continue to benefit people along the routes.

As the international landscape is undergoing profound changes, global observers hope that China and Europe can strengthen their communication and cooperation.

"Many agree with the Chinese president's principle that we are all in the same boat, (and) that our common destiny is linked," said Stephan Ossenkopp, a senior researcher with the German think tank the Schiller Institute.

"A respectful exchange between our civilizations at both ends of the Eurasian continent is essential," said Ossenkopp.

Meanwhile, Lyazid Benhami, vice president of the Paris Association of French-Chinese Friendship, said "China and Europe are two major global players, and global challenges require them to work together."

"Dialogue and joint action based on mutual respect are the only tools capable of bringing about a better shared future," said Benhami.

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• Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay state visits to France, Serbia and Hungary from May 5 to 10, which is expected to enhance bilateral relations with the three countries and boost their mutually beneficial cooperation.

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Xi and Blinken Trade Small Nods Over a Large Gap

The U.S. secretary of state and the Chinese leader struck conciliatory notes in Beijing. But there was no budging on, or hiding, their governments’ core differences.

By Ana Swanson and Vivian Wang

The areas where the United States and China can work together seem to be shrinking fast, and the risks of confrontation are growing. But it was clear on Friday that both countries are trying to salvage what they can.

Preserving some semblance of cooperation — and the difficulty of doing so — was at the heart of a meeting between Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in Beijing on Friday. It was the latest effort by the rivals to keep communications open even as disputes escalate over trade, national security and geopolitical frictions.

Officials in both countries said they had made progress on a few smaller, pragmatic fronts, including setting up the first U.S.-China talks on artificial intelligence in the coming weeks. They also said they would continue improving communications between their militaries and increase cultural exchanges.

But on fundamental strategic issues, each side held little hope of moving the other, and they appeared wary of the possibility of sliding into further conflict.

China has accused the United States of working to stifle its technological progress and encircle Chinese interests in the Pacific.

The Biden administration is deeply concerned that cheap Chinese exports are endangering U.S. jobs, and is threatening more sanctions on China if Beijing does not roll back its support of Russia in its war in Ukraine.

“Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without China’s support,” Mr. Blinken said at a pre-departure news conference on Friday. “I made clear that if China does not address this problem, we will.”

Mr. Blinken said he had pressed China to take further actions to stem the flow of materials used to make fentanyl, including prosecuting those who were selling chemicals and equipment.

He said the issue of TikTok, the Chinese-owned social media platform that faces a potential U.S. ban in nine to 12 months under a law passed this week, did not come up.

In a sign of how the countries’ relations — which hit perhaps their lowest point in decades last year — had stabilized in recent months, Chinese officials struck a more conciliatory tone on Friday than they had during Mr. Blinken’s last visit, in June .

“China is happy to see a confident, open, prosperous and thriving United States,” Mr. Xi told Mr. Blinken, according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout. “We hope the U.S. can also look at China’s development in a positive light.”

Mr. Blinken told Mr. Xi that he hoped to move forward on agreements on topics where Mr. Xi and President Biden had agreed to cooperate after they met near San Francisco in November.

“We are committed to maintaining and strengthening lines of communication to advance that agenda and again deal responsibly with our differences so we avoid any miscommunications, any misperceptions, any miscalculations,” Mr. Blinken said.

Still, more factors appear to be driving the two countries apart than keeping them together. Geopolitical disputes in Ukraine and the Middle East have presented new challenges. With an election approaching in the United States, the Biden administration is under pressure to offer more protections for American factories against Chinese imports.

Mr. Xi told Mr. Blinken that “the international situation is fluid and turbulent,” and that the United States and China should “honor words with actions, rather than say one thing but do the opposite,” according to the Chinese readout.

China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, who spent over five hours with Mr. Blinken on Friday, was more blunt, warning that negative factors in the relationship were “increasing and building.”

In recent weeks, U.S. officials have begun more urgently raising concerns about China’s economic assistance to Russia and have held out the possibility of further sanctions, including on the Chinese banks that have financed the trade.

Mr. Blinken said on Friday that the Chinese support for Russia was creating a threat not just to Ukraine, but to Europe more broadly, and that European leaders shared those concerns.

“All I can tell you is I was extremely clear about our concerns in some detail,” he said. “But we’ll have to see what actions follow from that.”

In a briefing with reporters in mid-April, a senior Biden administration official said that China had provided Russia with significant quantities of semiconductors, drones and industrial materials. That was helping to fill critical gaps in Russian supply chains that might otherwise cripple Russia’s war effort, causing the Russian military sector to expand more quickly than American officials had believed possible.

China has denied providing weapons to Russia, which Washington has said would be a red line. Otherwise, though, Chinese officials have shown little inclination to scale back their ties with Russia. On Thursday, soon after Mr. Blinken arrived in Beijing from Shanghai, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia announced that he would visit China in May, in probably his first overseas trip since securing re-election last month.

Asked about Mr. Putin’s announcement at a routine news briefing on Friday, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry said he had no information to provide.

Trade frictions between the countries also continue to simmer, as American officials consider adding new tariffs on Chinese imports and restricting more exports of technology to China because of national security concerns.

Economic ties between the countries have long provided a source of strength for the relationship, a point Mr. Blinken reiterated while meeting with business executives in Shanghai on Thursday.

But with American businesses calling for more protections against China, and the prospect of a return of Donald J. Trump to the presidency, economic issues could turn more explosive.

To jump-start the economy, Mr. Xi and other Chinese leaders are stoking factory production and exports. But American leaders believe they must protect U.S. manufacturing, particularly the new factories making semiconductors, solar panels and car batteries in which the Biden administration is investing tens of billions of dollars this year.

At his news conference, Mr. Blinken said that China alone was producing more than 100 percent of global demand for products like solar panels and electric vehicles, and was responsible for one-third of global production but only one-tenth of global demand.

“This is a movie that we’ve seen before, and we know how it ends,” he said. “With American businesses shuttered and American jobs lost.”

Mr. Wang, the foreign minister, also saved some of his sharpest words for American trade policy. “The United States has adopted an endless stream of measures to suppress China’s economy, trade, science and technology,” he told Mr. Blinken during their meeting, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. “This is not fair competition but containment, and is not removing risks but creating risks.”

China knows that it probably has little room to sway the United States on trade, said Xie Tao, the dean of the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University. Instead, the Chinese government seems to be putting its focus on people-to-people exchanges, Professor Xie said.

Chinese media outlets have frequently raised Mr. Xi’s goal, announced after the summit near San Francisco last year, of inviting 50,000 young Americans to visit China. (Mr. Blinken said on Friday that he supported more Americans studying in China.)

“The Chinese government is really investing a lot of energy in shaping the future generation of Americans’ view of China,” Professor Xie said.

Li You contributed research.

Ana Swanson covers trade and international economics for The Times and is based in Washington. She has been a journalist for more than a decade. More about Ana Swanson

Vivian Wang is a China correspondent based in Beijing, where she writes about how the country’s global rise and ambitions are shaping the daily lives of its people. More about Vivian Wang

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