President Emmanuel Macron of France arrives in Beijing on Wednesday. He’ll also travel with Xi Jinping to Guangzhou, where Xi’s father was a senior official. The French government is spinning the line that his top priority will be to persuade Xi to limit China’s support for Vladimir Putin. The reality, as underlined by the legion of business leaders Macron is taking with him, is that this trip is simply another French play for more Chinese trade and investment.

Germany’s Olaf Scholz made the trade pilgrimage to Xi last November, Spain’s Pedro Sanchez did so last week, and now it’s Macron’s turn. Macron seems determined to avoid even the hint that he’ll put any real pressure on Xi. This bears note because the European Union’s vast trade dealings with China afford it significant prospective leverage with which to demand that Xi stop providing political cover for Putin over the war in Ukraine. The key is that the EU’s powerhouse leaders, Macron and Scholz, are loath to use that leverage.