As Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen meet Xi Jinping, they will be sending a message of unity - even as China seeks to exploit potential cracks in Europe's alliances.
Ednews reports citing BBC that the French president and the head of the European Commission will be welcomed by the Chinese president in Beijing on Thursday.
Their joint trip is the latest in a noticeable push from European leaders to engage with China, which has seen German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez paying visits in recent months.
Like them, Mr Macron and Ms von der Leyenwill be pressing Mr Xi on taking further steps to halt the Ukraine war, while also finessing the increasingly fraught trade relationship between the European Union and China, its biggest trading partner.
European watchers expect them to work as a tag team on the Chinese.
With his attempts at engaging Vladimir Putin, the French president is likely to play the good cop. An Élysée Palace spokesman told reporters that Mr Macron found "points of convergence with Chinese proposals" on ending the war.
Meanwhile, some have called Ms von der Leyen the "bad cop from Brussels", given her strong relationship with US President Joe Biden and vocal support for Nato's position.
