The French president, Emmanuel Macron, who believes that a personal touch is the key to diplomacy, lured President Xi Jinping of China to a 7,000-foot pass in the Pyrenees on Tuesday, expecting to show off the sweeping views that had stamped his childhood, but instead finding dense fog and wild snow flurries.

法国总统马克龙相信个人化的色彩是外交的关键，周二，他把中国国家主席习近平引到比利牛斯山脉一个约2100米的山口，希望能展示童年记忆中的壮丽景色，结果却遭遇浓雾和大雪。

It was a long, slippery road up the mountain, under torrential rain, but that didn’t stop crowds of Chinese admirers with red flags and pennants from gathering in almost every village along the way, miraculously transposed to a remote area of southwestern France and seemingly uniform in their enthusiasm.

上山的路漫长湿滑，还下着倾盆大雨，但这并没有阻止一群群挥舞着大小红旗的中国仰慕者聚集在沿途的几乎每个村庄，他们奇迹般地来到这个法国西南部的偏远地区，表现出一致的热情。

Undeterred, but running two hours late, Mr. Macron greeted Mr. Xi under an umbrella at one of his favorite restaurants, L’Étape du Berger, or the Shepherd’s Stop, where dancers in colorful local dress twirled and jigged to the sounds of a flute, an accordion and a tom-tom.

马克龙虽然耽搁了两个小时，但并未受到影响，他撑着伞，在自己最喜欢的一家餐厅L ' Étape du Berger（牧羊人小站）迎接习近平，穿着五颜六色当地服装的舞者随着长笛、手风琴和筒鼓的声音旋转起舞。

Mr. Xi was impassive, but his wife, Peng Liyuan, smiled broadly and applauded.

习近平无动于衷，但他的妻子彭丽媛笑容满面地鼓着掌。

Using the familiar “tu” form to address Mr. Xi, 70, rather than the formal “vous” that would have been more customary between heads of state, Mr. Macron, 46, offered the Chinese leader a yellow jersey signed by last year’s Tour de France winner, Jonas Vingegaard, a Danish cyclist.

46岁的马克龙用熟人之间的“你”来称呼70岁的习近平，而不是正式的、国家元首之间更常用的“您”。他送给习近平一件黄色运动衫，上面有去年环法自行车赛冠军、丹麦自行车手乔纳斯·温格高的签名。

“I know how much you love sport,” Mr. Macron said. Mr. Xi is known for his interest in soccer.

“我知道你有多热爱体育，”马克龙说。习近平是出了名的足球迷。

The Col du Tourmalet, where the leaders met, has mythical status in the Tour de France; its steep and winding ascent is a severe test. It is also a place dear to Mr. Macron, who regularly came here from his home in northern France to stay at the nearby house of his maternal grandmother, Germaine Nogues, the member of his family about whom he speaks most effusively.

二人会面的图尔马莱峰在环法自行车赛中有着神话般的地位；它陡峭而曲折的上坡路对于车手是一个严峻的考验。对马克龙来说，这里也是一个很亲切的地方，他经常从法国北部的家中来到这里，住在附近他的外祖母热尔梅娜·诺盖斯家的房子里。谈起外祖母，马克龙总是滔滔不绝。

沿途几乎每个村庄都聚集了大批中国的仰慕者。

Eric Abédie, the chef and a friend of Mr. Macron, offered a lunch of ham — cured for 24 months, from the black pigs of the region — shoulder of lamb, and blueberry tart. Cheeses and fine wines abounded. The ham, served as an aperitif, particularly impressed Mr. Xi, who said he would promote it back home. The atmosphere was festive, intimate and relaxed, as Mr. Macron wished.

马克龙的朋友、厨师埃里克·阿伯萨迪制作的午餐包括火腿——用该地区的黑猪腌制了24个月——羊肩肉和蓝莓馅饼。奶酪和美酒应有尽有。作为开胃菜的火腿给习近平留下了特别深刻的印象，他表示会在国内推广这款火腿。正如马克龙所希望的那样，现场气氛欢快、亲密、轻松。

What exactly it would achieve was another matter. Over two days of talks, Mr. Xi has smiled a lot but offered little, particularly on European requests that he help end the war in Ukraine. With a succession of leaders, including Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Donald J. Trump, the former American president, Mr. Macron has demonstrated his belief in his powers of seduction, only to be rebuffed or ignored.

它究竟能取得什么样的成果则是另一回事了。在两天的会谈中，习近平经常面带微笑，但几乎没有提供什么东西，尤其是在欧洲要求他帮助结束乌克兰战争的问题上。在俄罗斯的普京和美国前总统特朗普等一系列领导人面前，马克龙都展示了对自身魅力的信心，结果却遭到了拒绝或忽视。

French officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with diplomatic practice, said Mr. Macron had forged a unique, close relationship with Mr. Xi since they first met as presidents six years ago, offering him a conduit into the intimate thinking of the Chinese leader that no other Western power has.

法国官员表示，自从六年前以国家元首身份首次进行会晤以来，马克龙与习近平建立了一种独特而密切的纽带，为马克龙提供了一个了解中国领导人内心想法的渠道，这是其他西方大国所不具备的。按照外交惯例，这些法国官员要求匿名。

They pointed to a joint Sino-French statement on the Middle East, issued Monday, condemning all forms of terrorism, including the Hamas attack on Israel of Oct. 7, as evidence of the importance of this bond at a time of great global instability.

他们指出，中法两国周一就中东问题发表联合声明，谴责一切形式的恐怖主义，包括哈马斯10月7日对以色列的袭击，这证明了在全球形势动荡的时刻这一纽带的重要性。

Others have a different view. “You can seduce voters,” Bertrand Badie, an expert on international relations at Sciences Po University in Paris, said, noting that Mr. Macron has done so more than once. “It’s harder to carry that over into the complexities of international relations,” even if a “new partnership with China” was a worthwhile goal.

也有人持不同的看法。“你可以迷住选民，”巴黎政治大学国际关系专家贝特朗·巴迪说。他指出，马克龙已经不止一次成功做到这一点。然而，“将这种能力转移到复杂的国际关系中要困难得多”，即使“与中国建立新的伙伴关系”是一个值得追求的目标。

马克龙向习近平赠送了一件去年环法自行车赛冠军签名的黄色运动衫。马克龙说：“我知道你非常热爱体育。”

The lunch itself was private, a four-person affair for the two leaders and their spouses. It had been planned for the terrace, but for obvious reasons that was a non-starter. The idea was for both parties to speak freely and frankly.

午餐本身是私人性质的，只有两位领导人和他们的配偶四人参加。原计划是在露台上用餐，但由于显而易见的原因未能实现。这样的安排旨在让双方都能畅所欲言。

Little filtered out, but the officials said human rights issues in China had been raised by Mr. Macron both Monday and Tuesday, although there has been no reference made in any communiqué.

关于午餐中的谈话，几乎没有任何消息流出，但官员们表示，马克龙在周一和周二都提到了中国的人权问题，尽管这在任何公报中都没有提及。

The question became particularly delicate after Valérie Heyer, who will lead Mr. Macron’s flailing Renaissance Party in the European Parliament elections next month, described China’s treatment of Uighurs in the northwestern region of Xinjiang in the harshest terms.

瓦莱丽·海耶下个月将在欧洲议会选举中领导马克龙举步维艰的复兴党，她用最严厉的措辞描述了中国对待西北地区新疆维吾尔人的方式，因此，人权问题变得尤为微妙。

In an interview with Sud Radio this week, she said that her personal view was that “very probably” the Chinese oppression amounted to genocide. The French officials had no comment but said Mr. Macron did not use the word.

在本周接受南方广播电台采访时，她表示，她个人认为中国的压迫“很可能”构成了种族灭绝。法国官员没有发表评论，但表示马克龙没有使用种族灭绝这个词。

They did, however, note that the wine served was a Jean-Luc Colombo 2008 vintage, the year of the Beijing Olympics, and that its “robe rouge,” or red dress, recalled the name of a famous Chinese tea made in Fujian Province, which was once governed by Mr. Xi.

然而，他们指出，午餐中提供的葡萄酒是2008年份的让-吕克·克伦伯，那是北京奥运会举行的年份，而它的“红袍”——也就是酒裙，则让人想起习近平曾经主政的福建出产的一种中国名茶。

Diplomacy is a subtle business, at least as practiced by the French.

外交是一门微妙的学问，至少法国人的做法很微妙。

周二，两国领导人及配偶在比利牛斯山脉的图尔马雷山口观看了民间舞蹈。如马克龙所愿，现场气氛欢快、亲切而轻松。