PARIS, May 5 (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping lauded

China's ties with France as an international model on Sunday as

he arrived in Paris for a rare visit against a backdrop of

mounting trade disputes with the EU.

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to urge Xi to reduce

trade imbalances and to use his influence with Russia over the

war in Ukraine. China's President is due to meet Macron and

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Monday.

Xi, who was welcomed in Paris by Prime Minister Gabriel

Attal, said in a statement released on his arrival that ties

between China and France were "a model for the international

community of peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation

between countries with different social systems".

France is backing a European Union probe into Chinese

electric vehicle exports, and in January, Beijing opened an

investigation into mostly French-made imports of brandy, a move

widely seen as a tit-for-tat retaliation for EU probes.

"We want to obtain reciprocity of exchanges and have the

elements of our economic security taken into account," Macron

said in an interview with French newspaper La Tribune ahead of

Xi's two-day visit, his first trip to the region in five years.

The EU's 27 members - in particular France and Germany - are

divided on their attitude towards China.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not join Macron and Xi in

Paris due to prior commitments, sources said.

"In Europe, we are not unanimous on the subject because

certain players still see China as essentially a market of

opportunities," Macron said, without naming any countries.

These divisions could undermine the EU's ability to

influence the Asian giant.

France will also seek to make progress on opening the

Chinese market to its agricultural exports and resolve issues

around the French cosmetic industry's concerns about

intellectual property rights, officials said.

China may announce an order for around 50 Airbus aircraft

during Xi's visit, but it remains uncertain whether it will be a

new deal, people familiar with the negotiations said.

France has been keen to nudge China into pressuring Moscow

to halt operations in Ukraine, with little progress apart from

Xi's decision to call President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the

first time shortly after Macron visited Beijing last year.

"If the Chinese seek to deepen the relationship with

European partners, it is really important that they hear our

point of view and start taking it seriously," a French

diplomatic source said.

Macron will take Xi to the Pyrenees, a mountainous region

dear to the French President as the birthplace of his maternal

grandmother, on Tuesday before Xi heads to Russia-friendly

Serbia and Hungary.