French President Emmanuel Macron began the last day of his state visit to China by surprising fellow joggers at the Jincheng Lake Park in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Friday.

Videos circulating on Chinese social media showed the French president at the popular park, before joining President Xi Jinping at the Dujiangyan dam, state media reported. The dam has managed water flows around Chengdu since the 3rd century BC.

Far from the imposing Great Hall of the People in Beijing where the two leaders held talks, Xi and First Lady Peng Liyuan showed Macron and his wife Brigitte around the centuries-old dam, a World Heritage Site set against the mountainous landscape of Sichuan province.

The French president said he was"very touched" by the gesture, a departure from official protocol. He had previously hosted Xi in the Pyrenees – where he had spent time as a child – in May 2024.

Macron said the trip was a sign of mutual trust and a desire to"act together" at a time when international tensions are rising and trade imbalances are widening to China's advantage.

The two presidential couples will part ways after a lunch, with the Macrons continuing the trip independently.

Panda and ping-pong diplomacy

Macron is also meeting with students in Chengdu, China's fourth-largest city with 21 million inhabitants that is considered one of the most culturally and socially open in China.

Brigitte Macron, meanwhile, heads to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, where two 17-year-old pandas, loaned to France in 2012 as part of China's"panda diplomacy", have just returned.

There, she will meet Yuan Meng, the first giant panda born in France in 2017, to whom she is"Godmother", and who arrived in China in 2023.

The forests of Sichuan are home to numerous protected species, from snow leopards to giant pandas.

Through loans to zoos, China has made these bears emblematic ambassadors of its friendship with peoples from Japan to Germany.

Cubs born abroad are sent a few years later to Chengdu to participate in breeding and rehabilitation programmes in the wild.

For his part, the French president will meet table tennis brothers Alexis and Felix Lebrun, stars of the 2024 Paris Olympics, who are in China for the Mixed Team Table Tennis World Cup.

Trade agreements

On Thursday in Beijing, the French president urged his Chinese counterpart to work towards ending the war in Ukraine and to correct the trade imbalances with France and Europe.

China regularly calls for peace talks and respect for the territorial integrity of all countries, but has never condemned Russia for its 2022 invasion.

Western governments accuse Beijing of providing Russia with crucial economic support for its war effort, notably by supplying it with military components for its defence industry, something Beijing denies.

Macron's call for increased Chinese investment in France appears to have been heeded.

The meeting between the two leaders in Beijing on Thursday produced 12 cooperation agreements covering topics such as population ageing, nuclear energy and panda conservation. No monetary amounts were disclosed, though Macron is being accompanied for his fourth state visit to China by the heads of some of France's most prominent companies.

The Chinese leader was not expected to approve a long-anticipated, 500-jet Airbus order, as that would weaken Beijing's leverage during trade talks with the US, which is pressing for new Boeing purchase commitments.

Xi also announced that China will provide $100 million to help Gaza’s ongoing humanitarian crisis and to support recovery and reconstruction.

He called for building greater political trust with France by showing mutual support while demonstrating each side’s “independence”.

“No matter how the external environment changes, both sides as major powers should always demonstrate independence and strategic vision, show mutual understanding and mutual support for each other on core matters and major critical issues,” he said.

“China and France should demonstrate their sense of responsibility, raise high the banner of multilateralism … and firmly stand on the right side of history,” he added.