Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Tarbes, Hautes-Pyrenees Department of France on Tuesday, as part of his state visit to the European country. Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan were welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, at the airport. 

Nearly 300 overseas Chinese from southern French cities such as Toulouse, Lyon and Cannes, holding Chinese and French national flags, welcomed Xi at Tarbes airport.

The Pyrenees is the birthplace of Macron's maternal grandmother, who was from the Pyrenean town of Bagnères-de-Bigorre. In his childhood, the French president commonly visited the town to see his grandmother.  

Xi and Macron - together with their wives - visited a mountain restaurant. Before lunch, they watched a traditional folk dance performance  and took a picture together, media reported.  

"Arranging a meeting in the Pyrenees shows that President Macron attaches great importance to the effect of head-of-state diplomacy on elevating China-France relations. He also hopes that his personal relationship will allow the two sides to discuss global governance issues, bilateral issues and the regional situation in a more relaxing manner," Dong Yifan, a research fellow at the Institute of European Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times. 

A new climax in high-level exchanges

The talks in the Pyrenees are reminiscent of the scenario in April 2023 when the Chinese and French top leaders met for informal talks in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province. The two leaders strolled through the Pine Garden close to Baiyun Mountain, chatting and stopping at times to enjoy the unique scenery of the southern Chinese garden. They had tea by the water, enjoying the view and discussing the past and present. Xi and Macron listened to the guqin (Chinese zither) melody "High Mountain and Flowing Water" at Baiyun Hall. Xi then invited Macron to dinner.

The similar interaction between the Chinese and French leaders can also date back to 2019 when in the French city of Nice in March, Macron received Xi at Villa Kerylos, a century-old house overlooking the Mediterranean and seen as a microcosm reflecting European civilization. 

Later that year, in November, President Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan met with Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron in the Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai. The two couples walked in the garden and enjoyed the unique night scape. 

Song Luzheng, a Chinese scholar residing in France and a research fellow at the China Institute of Fudan University, believes that arranging a meeting in the Pyrenees intends to show that the two leaders have broad visions and mind-sets to see things from a global perspective, as there is a Chinese saying, "stand tall and see far."

"Mutual trust and mutual understanding between leaders can help the two countries to face up to common challenges and solve problems," Song told the Global Times, adding that he sees the Pyrenees meeting between Xi and Macron as a display of high-level mutual trust between the two countries.

Keeping momentum

Xi and Macron held talks at the Elysee Palace on Monday. President Xi said that the two sides should stay committed to the spirit that guided the establishment of their diplomatic ties, namely, independence, mutual understanding, long-term vision and mutual benefit, and enrich it with new features of the new era.

The two sides should continue to understand each other, jointly promote harmonious coexistence in a colorful world, stick to taking a long view and work together for an equal and orderly multipolar world, he said.

China is willing to maintain strategic communication with France, respect each other's core interests, consolidate the strategic stability of bilateral relations, tap the vast potential of mutually beneficial cooperation and facilitate growth and balance in bilateral trade, Xi said.

Macron said that France and China, through mutual respect, a long-term perspective and strengthened cooperation, will play an important and positive role in addressing global challenges and opposing any logic of bloc confrontation.

France would like to have closer economic ties and multilateral communication and collaboration with China, and work for more outcomes in the France-China strategic partnership, he said.

At the joint meeting with the press with Macron after their talks, President Xi said that the two sides have agreed on consolidating the strategic stability of bilateral relations, exploring the great potential for mutually beneficial cooperation, accelerating people-to-people exchanges and building greater consensus on global cooperation.

Pierre Picquart, an expert in geopolitics and human geography from the University of Paris-VIII, told the Global Times that despite certain differences between China and France, maintaining high-level dialogue between the two sides is of paramount importance. 

"Preserving this high-level dialogue is essential to promoting cooperation on critical issues, thereby contributing to regional and global stability," said Picquart.

Xi left France and headed for Serbia on Tuesday evening local time.

From enthusiastic visitors sitting in malatang (spicy soup) restaurants in Tianshui, Northwest China's Gansu Province, to crowds flocking in droves to Shanghai's dazzling Bund area at night, and to the bustling camping sites on the outskirts of Beijing, China experienced a tourism frenzy during the five-day May Day holidays from Wednesday to Sunday. 

Consumption in China, the world's second-largest economy, has been firing on all cylinders during the May Day holidays, with box office and other retail spending witnessing a robust momentum. The spending spree points to a fast-lane recovery in the travel market.

As May Day holidays spending is deemed a barometer on Chinese consumer sentiment, observers said the momentum in the tourism market underscores the huge potential of the country's consumption and its consolidated role in boosting the economy throughout the year. It is projected that China's social retail sales will expand above 5 percent in 2024, buttressing the economy to navigate through rising uncertainties and head toward the GDP target of around 5 percent, experts noted.

The country saw a total of 1.36 billion passenger trips during the May Day holidays, according to data from the Ministry of Transport. Also, a record high of 280 million passenger trips were made on Wednesday, the first day of the May Day holidays. 

The country's railway network is expected to handle 144 million passenger trips during May Day holiday travel rush from April 29 to May 6, according to China Railway, Xinhua News Agency reported.

"We are seeing a full-fledged recovery in the tourism market [during the May Day holidays], whether from the supply side or the demand side. On the one hand, the domestic tourism market is further consolidating its rebound momentum since the second half of last year. On the other hand, the outbound tourism market also staged a fast recovery pace," Xu Xiaolei, a marketing manager at CYTS Tours Holding Co, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

Data from travel platform Fliggy showed that bookings for domestic tours via the platform recorded double-digit growth compared with last year, both in the number of bookings made per person and average spending per person. 

As infrastructure improves and hospitality capabilities expand, travel to third-tier and fourth-tier cities as well as county-level travel destinations is popular, with bookings to most of those places increasing at a much higher rate than first- and second-tier cities, according to data of trip.com. The new trend, the company said, reflects "a broadside market boom under which the range of travelers expands, travel destinations diversify and the foundation of tourism recovery is further cemented."

While increasing bookings could presage a stable market, industry insiders are also putting great emphasis on consumer spending patterns, which they said is consequential in gauging the "sustainability of the tourism recovery." 

"Tourists are more willing to spend this year based on my observations, and we project revenue during the holidays will rebound to pre-COVID level, lending us confidence that this year is poised to be a banner year for all tourism practitioners," a manager surnamed Li at a homestay in Datong, North China's Shanxi Province, told the Global Times on Friday. All homestay rooms were fully booked ahead of the holidays. 

With regard to outbound tourism, data from qunar.com showed that international tickets and hotel reservations via the platform have set a record high for the May Day holidays period. The stepped-up recovery was fueled by multiple factors, including more visa exemption policies, a surge in international flight capacity and more convenient entry and exit measures, the platform said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Sunday. 

"The China holidays have brought 'a peak season' for the global tourism market, and the waves of Chinese outbound travelers have also driven global consumption recovery," qunar.com noted.

"The travel rush could lead to a multiplier effect on tourism economic growth. In particular for smaller cities, the amplifying effect could even be twenty-fold. For example, while eating a spicy dish in Tianshui costs only about 30 yuan per person, it is estimated it could drive local consumption up to 650 yuan," said the report.

Observers said the upbeat data shows that China's services consumption has continued its recovery streak in the holidays, while goods consumption is also picking up. "There's a clear and robust momentum in the consumption recovery," Tian Yun, a veteran economist, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Despite a moderate growth in consumer spending in the first quarter, the potential for consumption will be further realized looking through the year, with "stable and progressive expansion" in the scale of consumption, according to Tian.

The return capsule of the Shenzhou-17 manned spaceship, carrying astronauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Tuesday.

The Chinese mainland will take the lead in resuming tourism for residents of East China's Fujian Province to visit Matsu, and will approve certain imports from the island of Taiwan, according to the authorities on Sunday. Experts believed that by upholding the 1992 Consensus and opposing "Taiwan independence," the mainland has sent "goodwill signals" to further promote cross-Straits exchanges and cooperation.

After the direct passenger sea routes between Pingtan, Fujian and the Taiwan island are resumed, the mainland will also resume group tours for Fujian residents to the island, according to Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Rao Quan, during a meeting with a visiting Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party delegation led by Fu Kun-chi, in Beijing, on Sunday.

 In August 2019, the mainland suspended issuing individual tourist travel permits for the island to residents in 47 mainland cities. 

 Also on Sunday, Zhao Zenglian, a deputy chief of the General Administration of Customs, met with Fu. Chinese mainland customs will approve the imports of agricultural and fishery products from the island of Taiwan - including pomelo - in accordance with mainland quarantine requirements and regulations,  Zhao announced. 

The 25-member KMT delegation arrived in Beijing on Friday evening and was scheduled to return to the island of Taiwan on Sunday.

These moves by the mainland including resuming tourism to Matsu are "goodwill signals," and more opening measures are expected to carry out in the future, to promote cross-Straits exchanges, cooperation and integrated development, by upholding the 1992 Consensus and opposing "Taiwan independence," Wang Jianmin, a senior cross-Straits expert at Minnan Normal University in Fujian, told the Global Times on Sunday.

The Ministry of Transport and the Civil Aviation Administration of China both announced on Sunday that they have urged the Taiwan authorities to resume direct cross-Straits sea passenger routes and expand resumption of direct cross-Straits flight destinations.

We hope that the Taiwan authorities will fully consider the demands of people and shipping companies on both sides of the Straits, and promptly resume direct cross-Straits sea routes, and restore the opening of direct flights between the island and 30 mainland destinations, Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Sunday.

Tang Yonghong, a professor from the Taiwan Research Center at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Sunday that the regions such as Matsu have a relatively sound political foundation for fostering economic exchanges. Opening travel to Matus is also part of the efforts to building a demonstration zone in Fujian for the integrated development across the Taiwan Straits.

Tang said that it's important to uphold the 1992 Consensus and oppose "Taiwan independence." Taiwan compatriots will benefit from cross-Straits exchanges and cooperation. However, anyone who supports "Taiwan independence" has no room and will be firmly opposed, according to Tang. 

Fujian previously heightened convenience for Taiwan compatriots holding travel permits regarding travel, finance, telecommunications and other areas.

　

Since the beginning of 2024, a total of 90,000 five-year travel permits have been issued to Taiwan compatriots, an increase of 56.4 percent year on year; and 11,000 single-entry travel permits have been issued, an increase of 200 percent from the same period in 2023, according to Zhu on April 24.

A pilot program for online applications and issuance of entry and exit documents has been launched across 20 mainland cities, including Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, by China's National Immigration Administration, to further facilitate the exit-and-entry services. 

Starting from May 6, mainland residents above the age of 16 in these cities are allowed to apply for renewal and replacement of Taiwan travel permits through the national immigration administration's online platform, without the need to visit the immigration office in person, according to the immigration authorities on Sunday.

The latest round of rainfall in southern China was forecast to peak on Thursday, with South China's Guangdong Province being the center of the heavy rainfall. Meanwhile, most regions in northern China are expected to see significant warming, with daytime temperatures reaching around 30 C in some places, according to China's National Meteorological Center.

The meteorological center continued to issue warnings for heavy rainfall and severe convective weather on Thursday. 

Multiple rounds of heavy rainfall have occurred in southern China in April, with above normal levels of accumulated precipitation during the same period. The precipitation in South China is more than twice the normal level for the same period recorded in previous years, making it the second-highest level since 1961, according to meteorological authorities.

Chinese authorities have strengthened flood relief efforts including dispatching relief supplies, relocating flood-affected residents, and enhancing monitoring, forecasting, and early warning systems in recent days to reduce risks and prevent secondary disasters.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the People's Armed Police Force have assisted in emergency rescue and disaster relief in Guangdong. As of 8 pm on Wednesday, a total of 3,928 residents had been relocated, said Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, at Thursday's press briefing.

The Shaoguan detachment under the People's Armed Police deployed 300 soldiers to Jiangwan town, one of the most severely flood-affected areas in Guangdong. They marched for more than 30 hours to reach the town, as the region experienced heavy rainfall, and roads, communication lines, and electricity were cut off, leaving the town isolated, according to the Southern Theater Command of the PLA.

As of 7 pm on Wednesday, all the residents affected in Jiangwan town had all been transferred, as the region is expected to experience a new round of heavy rainfall to last until Friday, with a high risk of geological disasters, according to Guangdong authorities.

The Global Times has learned from the Shaoguan authorities that relevant local departments have been working around the clock in rescue and flood relief efforts.

Zheng Zhihai, chief forecaster at the National Climate Center said that the frequent rainfall in southern China is closely linked to the El Niño phenomenon. Since April, the strong subtropical high pressure in the western Pacific has been directing water vapor from the South China Sea and the Bay of Bengal toward southern China, according to the meteorological authorities on Wednesday.

Experts also reminded farmers to regularly clean ditches and drains, remove excess water from fields, and avoid conducting spring sowing during the period of heavy rainfall. "The impact of the round of heavy rainfall on rice planting in Guangdong is limited," Li Guoxiang, a researcher at the Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

After the heavy rain, it is important to promptly take measures such as replanting and other technical methods to reduce the impact. Also, the local farmers will strengthen pest and disease monitoring and adjust fertilization accordingly, said Li.