French President Emmanuel Macron travels to Beijing on November 4, as a guest of honour of the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. Macron will be joined by French meat exporters, bankers, and aerospace executives. He will also try to score personal points on multilateralism, climate, and culture—the latter with the long-awaited opening of the Pompidou Centre in Shanghai.

(comment: With a €29 billion trade deficit, France's economy is not dependent on exports to China. Many French defense-related high-tech industries remain bound by the 1989 arms embargo, and, because of the difficult operating circumstances on the Chinese market, several French industrial groups, including Alstom, Auchan, and Carrefour, have left China or vastly reduced their business presence there over the past years.)