China's Xi visits Pyrenees mountains, in a personal gesture by France's Macron
TOURMALET PASS, France (AP) — France’s president is hosting China’s leader at a remote mountain pass in the Pyrenees on Tuesday for private meetings after a high-stakes state visit in Paris dominated by trade disputes and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron made a point of inviting Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Tourmalet Pass near the Spanish border, where Macron spent time as a child visiting his grandmother. It is meant to be a reciprocal gesture after Xi took Macron last year to the residence of the governor of Guangdong province, where the Chinese president’s father once lived.
Snow coated nearby slopes after new snowfall overnight, and security was tightened around the area. The winding roads up to the pass were blocked by authorities Tuesday for dozens of kilometers (miles).
The mountain meetings come after a grandiose state visit by Xi on Monday that included a ceremonial welcome at the monument housing Napoleon’s tomb and a state dinner at the Elysee Palace with celebrities and magnates.
Xi is on a trip to Europe aimed at reinvigorating relations at a time of global tensions. He heads next to Serbia and Hungary.
Related articles
I'm jealous of my husband's dead ex
Q: My second marriage is going through a bad patch and it's my fault. My husband is everything you c2024-05-07A Danish hippie oasis has fought drug sales for years. Now, locals want to tear up the whole street
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The inhabitants of Copenhagen’s freewheeling Christiania neighborhood pla2024-05-07Astronauts from Turkey, Italy and Sweden return to Earth, ending private space station trip
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronauts from Turkey, Italy and Sweden returned to Earth on Friday, en2024-05-07California is still counting votes from Super Tuesday. Experts say that’s normal
CLAIM: California is still counting votes more than a week after the March 5 primary, a sign the ele2024-05-07German track star Alica Schmidt, dubbed 'the world's sexiest athlete', qualifies for the Olympics
Viral track and field star Alica Schmidt has qualified for the upcoming Paris Olympics in the mixed2024-05-07Allergy season arrived early in US. Here's why, what you can do
Allergy season is here — and it’s earlier and stronger than expected. More than 80 million Americans2024-05-07
atest comment