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Opinion | Why Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron will need to talk about China

The French President could make common cause with his US counterpart given their mutual concerns about ‘unfair’ trade practices

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Donald Trump welcomes Emmanuel Macron to the White House on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

This week, as President Emmanuel Macron is visiting Washington, for the first ever state visit under the Trump presidency, the China question will be in the background.

On both sides of the Atlantic, foreign policy circles have been speculating about possible outcomes from the three-day visit.

Key subjects include the future of the Iran nuclear accord and the Syria crisis.

Macron might even try to bring up climate change or the role of the European Union’s new Permanent Structured Cooperation defence pact.

But there is little doubt that China will be on everybody’s mind, as both the United States and the European Union are engaged in complex dealings with Beijing.

Although Trump and Macron may not see China from the same angle when it comes to security in the South China Sea, France is perhaps the only European country with strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific region thanks to its overseas territories.

In 2016, former defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who is now Macron’s Foreign Minister, suggested that the EU should send patrols to the South China Sea.

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