France's Macron Meets China's Xi On G20 Sidelines

Rio de Janeiro: French President Emmanuel Macron met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Tuesday on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Rio, AFP journalists saw.

On the summit's first day on Monday, Macron spoke of a "very fractured" world order and accused the two top national economies on the planet, the United States and China, of "not respecting" international trade rules.

Xi for his part spoke of the world entering "a new period of turbulence and change."

Macron in May hosted the Chinese leader when he made a state visit to Paris.

Xi and Macron have each been holding numerous bilateral talks on the sidelines of the G20, which gathers the leaders of the world's biggest economies.

While the summit has focused on climate issues and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, many of the participants are bracing for an imminent return to the White House of Donald Trump.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden represented his country at the summit but cut a diminished figure as his peers looked past him, politically, to Trump and the "America First" policies the president-elect has pledged.

In comments to journalists late Monday, Macron said Europe had a role to play in supporting "a collective multilateral effort" given increased trade confrontation between the United States and China.

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