There's a 'fine line' to tread when it comes to de-risking from China: Former WTO director-general

It’s a it’s a difficult moment because on one side it’s a celebration and she is coming to France to celebrate the 60s and her three of the recognition of China by France, which was the major western country to 1st recognize China. And on the other side, as Sam just said, there are very serious disagreements. The Russian war in Ukraine, which China is supporting in whatever proportion and of course EU serious trade issues that stem from the macro economic imbalances in the Chinese economy, which is a topic which is a very hard one to address. So on the one side, they have to be nice. On the other side, there are very serious issues which are much more serious than they were 10 or 20 years ago. It’s trade tensions. I’m keen to get your thoughts on this sort of contradiction. We were talking to 1 analyst this morning about here at CNBC over in France because on one hand you have them very much backing this idea of their concerns around EV protectionism over in China with the threat of tariffs. But at the same time, it seems like the French are still quite keen to bring some of that Chinese investment into the country, like we’re seeing in places like Hungary and Serbia. So is this not a bit conflicting? And where do you think the priorities very much lie here for France? Well, I think you’re right, but this is not a French issue, this is a European issue. And by the way, and Macron has been discussing this with the German Chancellor, the president of the EU Commission will attend part of the meeting. So yes, there is a fine line between deep risking the China on the one side and on the other side trying to move cooperation in areas like Environment Protection for instance. But the fundamental problem seen from the EU side and from the French side, and on this they are very much aligned, is the macro problem with China, with under consumption over investment over capacities that then lead China to dump on the bond market a lot of what its domestic consumers do not buy. And this is a big problem As for instance the US are turning food way protectionist. So if China has to export EVs, for instance, and it cannot export to US, or to Japan, or to Turkey, which are big markets, then the problem is a European one. And understandably, understandably, Macro will be asking Xi Jinping to get more control over this economic imbalance.