Airbus, Edf, Alstom and more. All Macron’s affairs in China for France
Not only Airbus: thanks to Macron's visit, numerous French companies – from Edf to L'Oréal to Alstom – have signed agreements in China. And Paris opens up to Chinese 5G. All the details
Accompanying French President Emmanuel Macron on his visit to China was not only Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, but also – and perhaps above all, considering that the priority in Paris seems to be the economy – a robust delegation of business leaders: sixty in all, among which the managing directors of Airbus, Alstom and the electric company Edf stood out.
EDF, ALSTOM, L'ORÉAL AND MORE: THE FRANCE-CHINA AGREEMENTS PROMOTED BY MACRON
Macron's entourage returned home after signing dozens of agreements with Chinese companies in many different sectors, from energy to railway construction to agriculture.
For example, EDF has renewed its nuclear energy partnership with China General Nuclear Power, which began in 2007, and has signed offshore wind pacts with China Energy.
Alstom, which builds trains and railway infrastructure, will build an electric traction system for the Chengdu metro, a populous and economically important city.
L'Oréal, the world's largest cosmetics company, has signed a three-year partnership with e-commerce company Alibaba on "sustainable consumption".
French shipping company CMA CGM has reached a biofuel deal with two Chinese conglomerates.
Suez, a water and waste management company, has won a contract for a seawater desalination project in China.
French pig farmers have gained access to the vast Chinese market, where pork is highly consumed.
WHAT AIRBUS WILL DO IN CHINA
One of the biggest agreements signed during Macron's visit to China concerns Airbus, the European (mainly French, but also split between Germany, the Netherlands and Spain) aircraft manufacturer: the company will open a new assembly line in the Tianjin plant, going to double the production capacity of A320 aircraft. The new line is expected to go into operation in 2025.
Airbus has also signed a memorandum of understanding with China's CNAF on the production of sustainable aviation fuels, fuels for aviation that emit less CO2 than traditional kerosene fuels.
CULTURE AND SCIENCE
France and China have also reached pacts in the cultural field: the Palace of Versailles and the Beijing Palace museum (located in the Forbidden City, the Chinese imperial madman of the Ming and Qing dynasties) will jointly organize an exhibition on Sino-French relations in XVIII century.
Macron and Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, have also said they want to facilitate the mutual mobility of students and teachers in the scientific field through the simplification of visa procedures.
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERS AND AIRBUS-ARMY CONTACTS
Science and technology, however, are two sensitive sectors: the European Union and the United States want to prevent their strategic technologies from ending up in the hands of China. As an anonymous engineer from the French aerospace company Safran who works in Beijing told Reuters , “[the Chinese, ed. ] push us to transfer the technology and we refuse. It's a cat-and-mouse game, but we still manage to do great things."
According to a report by consultancy firm Horizon Advisory released last summer, Airbus has deals on manufacturing and sharing advanced technologies with several entities linked to China's state military.
Commenting on the news, the newspaper Politico wrote that "the Chinese aviation sector was born from the People's Liberation Army Air Force [the official name of the Chinese armed forces, ed ] and has never been completely privatized or separated from its roots military".
“In recent years,” the newspaper continued, “President Xi Jinping has called for the 'civil-military' merger and has introduced numerous laws and regulations that require a wide range of companies – especially those operating in strategic sectors and which include joint ventures with international companies – to cooperate with China's military and intelligence agencies.
MILITARY COOPERATION AT THE SEA…
The joint statement released by Macron and Xi at the end of their meeting in China also speaks of a "deepening of dialogue" between the Asia-Pacific command of the French armed forces and the southern theater of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
An anonymous Elysée official told POLITICO that the collaboration will concretely concern the patrolling of the South China Sea (which Beijing claims almost entirely to itself, despite international law) and the Pacific Ocean to ensure "respect for the law of the sea".
… AND DOORS OPEN TO CHINA IN FRENCH 5G?
In the document, France also says it is willing to guarantee "the fair and non-discriminatory treatment of license applications submitted by Chinese companies" for the infrastructure for 5G, the fifth generation standard for mobile telephony technologies.
Many US allied countries – such as the UK, Australia and Canada – have decided to exclude Chinese companies, especially Huawei, from the list of 5G network suppliers for national security reasons. Washington, above all, accuses Huawei of being linked to the Chinese armed forces and therefore of allowing Beijing to conduct cyberespionage operations around the world.
– Read also: Tim chooses Ericsson for 5G
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/macron-cina-francia-accordi-economici/ on Tue, 11 Apr 2023 10:11:26 +0000.