French leader Macron says he was ‘very touched’ by Xi’s gesture to accompany him to Chengdu – a departure from protocol.
Published On 5 Dec 2025
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have pledged deeper cooperation on global issues, as the two leaders met ahead of France’s hosting of the Group of Seven (G7) summit next year.
Xi hosted Macron on Friday in the southwestern city of Chengdu, state media said, in a rare instance of the head of the world’s second-largest economy accompanying a guest beyond the capital, Beijing.
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As Macron wrapped up his three-day visit to China, he and his wife, Brigitte, met the Chinese presidential couple for lunch in a more relaxed setting compared with the previous day.
Macron began his day in Chengdu on Friday by surprising fellow joggers in the city’s Jincheng Lake Park, videos circulating on Chinese social media showed, before joining Xi at the Dujiangyan dam, state media reported. The dam has managed water flows around Chengdu since the 3rd century BC.
Macron said he was “very touched” by Xi’s gesture, a departure from official protocol, after he hosted Xi in the Pyrenees in May 2024, a place where Macron spent time as a child.
These are all signs of mutual trust and a desire to “act together” at a time when international tensions are rising and trade imbalances are widening to China’s advantage, he said.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Andy Mok of Beijing’s Center for China and Globalization, said that the visit highlights the importance of promoting “trade cooperation” between France and China, but also between greater Europe and China.
On Thursday, the two leaders had met at the more solemn Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where tough discussions on ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine and international trade took place.
Macron has been seeking to involve Beijing in pressuri