French President Emmanuel Macron began his multi-day state visit to the People’s Republic of China with an exclusive after-hours tour of the Forbidden City in the heart of Beijing.

Mr Macron and his wife, Brigitte, viewed the former Imperial Palace behind closed doors, the Élysée Palace said on Wednesday.

Only a handful of state visitors receive private access to the complex, once strictly off-limits to ordinary citizens.

The press was not allowed to attend.

Mr Macron, who last visited the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018, is among the first foreign guests to see the newly restored Qianlong Garden, reopened in late September.

Beijing is rolling out the red carpet for the French president right at the start of his fourth visit.

Ahead of his meetings, Mr Macron wrote on X that discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping would focus “on peace and economic rebalancing, which the world so desperately needs.”

China’s Foreign Office said Mr Xi plans to discuss Sino-French relations and important international issues with Macron, without giving further details.

On Thursday, Mr Macron is scheduled to meet Mr Xi and other high-ranking Chinese state and party leaders.

The Élysée Palace said France aims to urge China to pursue a more balanced trade policy.

Europeans regularly criticise China for unfairly competing with European products through state subsidies for electric cars, steel and solar panels.

Regarding the struggle to end the war in Ukraine, Mr Macron will also ask China to use its influence on Russia to bring about a ceasefire.

While on December 5, Mr Macron plans to visit a dam in Chengdu in Sichuan province before returning to France.

This is Mr Macron’s fourth visit to China and follows Mr Xi’s trip to Europe last year, during which he stopped in France.

Beijing says that France is China’s third most important trading partner in the EU.

(dpa/NAN)