Limited gains from Xi's trip to Europe point to more troubled times ahead

Warm welcome by Serbia, Hungary will not allay EU concern on issues like Ukraine

- Yew Lun Tian

Chinese President Xi Jinping went to Europe this week with two main goals: stabilising China-EU relations, and dividing Europe. He ended his trip on May 10 with neither achieved.

Beijing had hoped that the European Union could be a ballast in the face of increasing unpredictability and hostility from the United States, which is revving up for elections in November, during which candidates could vie with each other in taking a hard line on China.

In France, the first stop of the president's three-nation tour, Mr Xi told his counterpart Emmanuel Macron that both their countries should forge "mutual trust and stability in the new era".

But President Macron wanted more than stability.

He wanted China to dial back its state support for manufacturing in the new energy industry, which has resulted in what Europe says is overproduction and a crowding out of European companies. He has backed an EU probe into Chinese electric vehicles (EVs).

Mr Macron also wanted China to scale down its material support for Russia, whose invasion of Ukraine since 2022 is seen by European leaders as an existential threat to the continent.

China has said it does not sell arms to Russia. But the country's export of civilian goods that can be put to military use worries Europe.

Both Mr Macron's demands fell on deaf ears.

Mr Xi flatly denied there was overcapacity in China's new energy industry. "The so-called 'problem of China's overcapacity' does not exist, when seen from the lenses of comparative advantage and global demand," he told Mr Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

On each of the three days when Mr Xi was in France, the People's Daily, a mouthpiece for the Communist Party of China, ran commentaries refuting claims of overproduction.

On Ukraine, Mr Xi pushed back against the criticism that it is not doing enough to rein in Russia.