On his European trip, China's head of state Xi Jinping has also visit Monaco because of economic interests. The president, accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, was received by Prince Albert II and Princess Charlène on Sunday in sunny spring weather, as the newspaper Monaco Matin reported online.

Huawei and Monaco Telecom

The focus of the short visit was an encounter between Albert II and Xi. The domestic operator Monaco Telecom had just recently signed a partnership with the Chinese industry giant Huawei for the construction of a 5G network for super-fast data transmission. Huawei is accused in the US of using his products to spy on or sabotage. Evidence for this is not available yet. According to the French daily Le Monde, Huawei wants to make Monaco the first country to be completely covered by 5G.

First visit to Monaco

It is the first visit of a Chinese leader in Monaco, as the Prince's Palace announced. The program included a meal with around 40 guests, including Princess Caroline of Hannover and Princess Stéphanie. Although Monaco does not belong to the EU, it has the common currency Euro. In the evening Xi and his wife wanted to meet in the French seaside resort of Beaulieu-sur-Mer near Nice with head of state Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte. Xi came from Italy, where the government was the first major G7 industrialized country to join the Chinese megaproject of a "New Silk Road". (APA, 25.03.2019)