French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed climate, economic and health issues on Monday, July 5, as well as the restoration of air links, the Elysee said.
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Climate and health issues were already at the heart of discussions between the three leaders, during their last meeting in this format in mid-April. Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron in particular demanded from China the end of funding for coal-fired power stations and its support for the Coalition of High Ambition for Nature and People, for the protection of biodiversity.
They also pleaded for her to support their proposal to reallocate IMF special drawing rights to Africa, to the tune of $ 100 billion. While the investment treaty between the EU and China was blocked by the European Parliament, the two European leaders also "
recalled the European expectations on access to the Chinese market
" of European companies with "
competitive conditions fair
”, according to the French presidency.
They also called for the reestablishment of air links. For France, links with China have fallen from more than 100 flights per week before the Covid-19 pandemic to six per week currently. They also once again "
expressed their serious concerns about the human rights situation in China and reiterated their demands regarding the fight against forced labor
".
For his part, the Chinese leader stressed that the pandemic was not yet overcome and that the prospects for recovery remained uncertain, Chinese public television CCTV said. China in turn hoped that the European Union would provide Chinese companies with a fair and "
non-discriminatory
" environment. Beijing also called for Europe to increase its support for Africa, stressing that it had provided vaccines to 40 countries, according to this source.
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