French President Emmanuel Macron received a rock star welcome at Sichuan University on Friday (December 5), where he urged Chinese students to embrace cooperation in a world he said was at risk of fragmenting.

Macron, on the fourth day of his state visit to China, was greeted by cheering crowds outside the campus in Chengdu, with one student shouting “I love you” as he arrived.

Inside, the French leader walked onto the stage without a tie, joking that his casual look reflected the “friendly atmosphere” of his meeting moments earlier with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“We are at a moment of unprecedented rupture,” Macron told the audience. “When making peace, building tomorrow’s prosperity and trying to overcome the technological, climate and demographic revolutions I mentioned would require more cooperation, we are at a breaking point in our international order.”

He warned that the multilateral system built after World War Two was “cracking, fracturing, if not already re-fragmenting.”

Xi’s presence in Chengdu underscored the importance Beijing places on ties with Paris as China’s growing global clout reshapes trade, security and diplomacy. The Chinese leader rarely accompanies foreign visitors outside of the capital.

Macron’s visit, his fourth to China since taking office, comes amid tensions between Beijing and the European Union over trade and geopolitical issues. France and China, he said, share a common interest in defending “effective multilateralism to meet contemporary challenges.”

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

CHENGDU, CHINA (DECEMBER 5, 2025) (AGENCY POOL - Access all)

1. FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON MEETING STUDENTS OUTSIDE SICHUAN UNIVERSITY WITH ONE SHOUTING "I LOVE YOU"

2. FRENCH PRESIDENT, EMMANUEL MACRON, ARRIVING INSIDE UNIVERSITY

3. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRESIDENT, EMMANUEL MACRON, WALKING UP ONTO STAGE AND SAYING:

"Thank you very much for your words Mr. President, ministers, ambassadors, ladies and gentlemen, dear students, dear professors, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to be here, and please excuse the absence of a tie. I was just like this with your president a few moments ago, and so it is in keeping with that friendly atmosphere that I find myself before you."

4. MACRON SPEAKING ON STAGE

5. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRESIDENT, EMMANUEL MACRON, SAYING:

"We are at a moment of unprecedented rupture. And so, when making peace, building tomorrow's prosperity and trying to overcome the technological, climate, and demographic revolutions I mentioned, would require more cooperation, we are at a breaking point in our international order. And the world we built after World War II, which was based on what we call multilateralism and therefore cooperation between powers, is cracking, fracturing, if not to say it is already re-fragmenting. That is what is happening and what some are trying to establish through their rhetoric."

6. MACRON BEING GIVEN FLOWERS

7. MACRON LEAVING UNIVERSITY WITH OFFICIALS, WAVING