Xi Jinping has landed in Paris. It has been five years since he was last in Europe. This is what he wants to achieve.

The Chinese leader will visit France, Hungary and Serbia. There are very different reasons behind the choice of each country.

Hardly any country had as strict a lockdown as China during the pandemic. The country’s leader Xi Jinping has traveled little in the past five years, compared to previously.

But on Sunday he will come to Europe for the first time since 2019.

The visit takes place at a time when relations between Europe and China are strained, due to several spy scandals and China’s support for Russia. At the same time, Europe is more united in its China policy than in a long time, points out Ulf Sverdrup, professor of political science at BI School of Economics.

– China has traditionally had two major wishes towards Europe. Firstly, that Europe should take a different position from the US, a transatlantic split. Secondly, to pit different European countries against each other, says Sverdrup.

Xi does not visit important EU countries such as Germany and Italy, and he does not visit the EU capital Brussels.

1st stop: France

Xi arrives in Paris on Sunday and will stay for three days. On Monday, he will meet President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

From China’s side, the aim of the visit will be, among other things, to avoid a trade war with the EU. China wants to avoid the EU introducing high customs duties on electric cars from China, says Abigaël Vasselier, director of foreign policy at the German China think tank Merics, to The Guardian.

Ursula von der Leyen has previously hinted at such a tariff because the EU believes that the prices of Chinese electric cars are artificially low due to state subsidies.

– China is also concerned with what position Europe will take if Trump wins the US presidential election and introduces new tariffs on Chinese goods. Then the European market will become more important for China, says Ulf Sverdrup.

But what China can offer in return is unclear. What Europe wants is for Xi to put pressure on Putin in the Ukraine issue, points out Sverdrup.

– But several others have tried without success. Perhaps they will try to get China to participate in the peace conference in Geneva in October, or put pressure on Russia for a truce during the Olympics. Small steps. Because China says they want peace, but can they be made to show it in any way?

Macron, von der Leyen and Xi last met last April in China. When Macron is now hosting the Chinese leader, Sverdrup believes it is also about him wanting to appear as a European leader.

2nd stop: Serbia

Serbia is the most symbolic place Xi visits. When he arrives in the capital Belgrade on 8-10 May, is to mark 25 years since the US bombed the Chinese embassy in the city.

Three Chinese journalists were killed in the incident, which took place when NATO bombed Serbia during the Kosovo War in 1999. It made China more hostile to NATO, something they share with a large part of the population of Serbia.

China’s strained relationship with NATO is often cited as a reason why China supports Russia in the conflict against Ukraine and NATO.

The visit to Belgrade will be less strategically important than the other two visits on the trip, but will have fit into the schedule.

3rd stop: Hungary

The last stop on the program is Budapest, where Xi will meet one of his closest allies in Europe, Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The relationship between the two countries has grown close in recent years; China has offered to enter into security cooperation with Hungary, and the economic cooperation is extensive. Hungary houses Huawei’s largest base outside of China, and the car manufacturer BYD will soon open its first European factory in Hungary.

Orbán has sought closer ties with China ever since he returned to power in 2010, writes France 24. The nationalist Orbán has also gone against the EU’s official stance on Russia.