President Xi Jinping has lauded China’s ties with France as a model for the international community, as he arrived in Paris for a rare visit against a backdrop of mounting trade disputes with the EU, Ednews reports via The Guardian.

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to urge Xi to reduce trade imbalances and to use his influence with Russia over the war in Ukraine. Xi is due to meet Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Monday.

Xi, who was welcomed in Paris by prime minister Gabriel Attal, said in a statement released on his arrival that ties between China and France were “a model for the international community of peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation between countries with different social systems”.

In a separate op-ed published in the French daily Le Figaro, the Chinese president said he was coming to France with three messages: that Beijing was committed to opening up “new vistas” in its relationship with France; opening up “ever wider” to the world and to upholding world peace and stability.

“While opening up itself, China also encourages Chinese companies to go global,” Xi wrote. “France is advancing re-industrialisation based on green innovation, whereas China is accelerating the development of new quality productive forces.”

On the war in Ukraine, he wrote that China “understands the repercussions of the Ukraine crisis on the people of Europe”. He emphasized that Beijing is not “a party to or a participant in it”, adding that “China has been playing a constructive role in striving for peaceful settlement of the crisis”.

Xi’s visit to Europe is the first since 2019 and will also see him visit Serbia and Hungary.

One of Macron’s key priorities will be to warn Xi of the danger of backing Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, with western officials concerned Moscow is already using Chinese machine tools in arms production.

The west wants China above all not to supply weapons to Russia and risk tipping the balance in the conflict.