by Gianluigi Perrone*
in Beijing, where I write fromit is impossible not to notice that the Chinese media have a certain propensity to praise the French president Emmanuel Macron, recently visiting China. There is not only the canonical coverage of the portals but the space of honor dedicated to friends of the Party (see Putin) and even the e-commerce site Taobao has promoted “the week of French products”.
This happens because the visit of the French leader seems to have reinterpreted the international geopolitical balance, showing alla Chinese to be appreciated in Europe, simply by demonstrating the willingness of your country to continue economic relations with China regardless of the affair Taiwan.
During the three days, he signed economic agreements for nuclear power and food raw materials with the president Xi Jinping and was greeted with jubilation in Guangzhou, invoking “a strategic autonomy for Europe”. Entrust to Politico strong statements (but then correct the shot): “Europe must stop acting like a ‘follower’ of the United States” and “we have no interest in accelerating the Taiwan issue”. Finally “we must not depend on the extraterritoriality of the dollar”. Already because France is the first European country to sign trade agreements that provide for the use of the Yuan (and not the US dollar) for the payment between Total and China National Offshore Oil Corporation for the purchase of liquefied natural gas (LNG) through the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange.
I can not interpret this as the key event, prior to the visit, but which seals the agreements between France and China, but which heavily influences all of Mediterranean Europe, and beyond. I looked into the topic on the Mind Cathedral channel which I edit Who.
If since after the Second World War the US dollar has rightly played the role of commercial currency, for developing countries, and above all for China which has a centripetal conception of the international economy, has been a burden to be dragged reluctantly. The agreement between Brazil e Chinese (Lula will visit Beijing in a few days) is the first of a phenomenon of “de-dollarification” which was expected would involve the Brics countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), as well as Saudi Arabia’s decision to join the pact which gives the Yuan the role of a very dangerous competitor for the dollar. Simply Beijing can return the exchange with its own currency more favorable than the American one and to catalyze international investments on itself. Surely among the 25 countries that seem to be carrying out this epochal agreement with China, Saudi Arabia has an influential role due to its primacy on oil exports.
However it is France’s decision that surprises, because it sounds a lot like a stand against the United States. The same feeling it had when Olaf Scholz he flew to Beijing with the major representatives of German industry to ensure, in the aftermath of the Ukrainian conflict, that the commercial relationship with China had to continue.
A few days ago too Pedro Sánchez made an appearance in the rooms of the Great Hall of the People, instilling doubts that this procession was a way to diplomatically impose a pause between China and the US. It is certainly very pleasing to Beijing, to the Chinese mentality, to be taken into such high consideration. It could really be enough to open Xi up again to the international market, despite the faction of Jiang Zemin disappeared with its leader, and with it the technocratic and “Atlantist” part of the Party. In general, it is a stimulus for the newly re-elected President to continue the expansion project of the Yuan and the digital Yuan, which is also a Trojan horse within the international market.
This move, together with the development of the Belt & Road initiative, which favors trade by land to the detriment of trade by sea, preferred by the USA, and the potential monopoly on semiconductors (Chinese raw materials plus Taiwanese technology) which is fundamental for the whole world technology (therefore for everything), risk centralizing on China unprecedented power which however, due to some aspects of the Chinese mentality, justifies Washington’s concerns, but not the reactions that denounce an ethnocentric attitude that does not understand the profound cultural differences between peoples and indeed always tends towards provocations that do not envisage reconciliation.
If one thinks cynically, it is true that playing it on a military level would mean certain success for the United States (and Japan, which would be the real actor in naval warfare), but on condition that we are not isolated from the rest of the world. So Macron’s could be a conflict-freezing move, in the interest of Europe which would have time to grow and take decisions for itself. If this were to be supported by China, the positive response from Beijing would certainly be immediate.
The reactions from the United States were not long in coming: the Republican senator, marco rubiorunning against Trump in the primaries in 2016, criticized Macron, wondering if he speaks for the whole of Europe, given that he was accompanied on the Chinese trip by Ursula von der Leyen, and suggesting that perhaps the United States should break away from the 70-year military defense of Europe and let the Ukraine issue be an all-European problem. This would be the most tragic scenario: this would certainly bring new troubles for Europe (especially for Russia’s neighboring countries such as the newly born Finland), but it would also contribute to fueling the already rampant anti-Americanism which until now has been fed only and exclusively by Washington.
*CEO Polyhedron VR Studio