China's Xi arrives in France for state visit
Voice of America
China's President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan wave upon their arrival for an official two-day state visit at Orly airport, south of Paris on May 5, 2024. France's Prime Minister Gabriel Attal (L) greets China's President Xi Jinping upon his arrival for an official two-day state visit, at Orly airport, south of Paris on May 5, 2024.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday arrived in France on a state visit hosted by Emmanuel Macron where the French leader will seek to push his counterpart on issues ranging from Ukraine to trade. Xi's arrival for the visit marking 60 years of diplomatic relations between France and China was the start of his first trip to Europe since 2019 which will also see him visit Serbia and Hungary. But Xi's choice of France as the sole major European power to visit indicates the relative warmth in Sino-French relations since Macron made his own state visit to China in April 2023 and acknowledges the French leader's stature as an EU powerbroker. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said the plane carrying Xi had touched down in Paris. The leader of the one-party Communist state of more than 1.4 billion people, accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, was to be welcomed at Paris Orly airport by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a welcoming ceremony in front of the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on May 16, 2024. (Russian state agency Sputnik via AFP) Russia's national flag flies beside the Chinese flag in front of Tiananmen Gate next to Tiananmen Square during the state visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on May 16, 2024.
The image provided by US Central Command, shows US Army soldiers, US Navy sailors and Israel Defense Forces placing the Trident Pier on the coast of the Gaza Strip on May 16, 2024. Tents are set up by displaced Palestinians amid the devastation in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 16, 2024.