Chinese leader Xi visits the French Pyrenees in a personal gesture by Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping (Ludovic Marin via AP)

France’s president hosted 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 Mr Macron spent time as a child visiting his grandmother.