Xi: Sound ties with France to benefit world

Posted by freemexy on March 27th, 2019

CHINESE President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron held talks in Paris yesterday on Xi’s three-nation Europe tour that has taken him to Italy and Monaco.To get more China world news, you can visit shine news official website.

Xi’s visit marks 55 years since French leader Charles de Gaulle established diplomatic relations with China. Xi was welcomed by Macron at the Arc de Triomphe monument, before a meeting and a state dinner at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Today, Xi and Macron will be joined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker to explore “points of convergence” ahead of an EU-China summit in Brussels next month. On Sunday, Xi stressed the importance of maintaining a sound China-France relationship to both countries’ long-term development and its potential impact on the world. Xi made the remarks when meeting with Macron in the southern French city of Nice.

Recalling the history of friendly exchanges between China and France, Xi noted that France is the first major Western country to establish official diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. France, he added, also is the first country to form a strategic partnership and conduct strategic dialogue with China and the first to carry out civilian nuclear-energy cooperation with China. He pointed to the special significance of his visit, which came at a special year that marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC and the 55th anniversary of the establishment of China-France diplomatic relations. Xi spoke of the things that remain unchanged in the face of profound changes in the international situation and bilateral relations. He said the importance China attaches to its relations with France has not changed.

China has always regarded France as a priority partner of cooperation, and the two peoples keep a special friendship, he added. “This is a valuable asset that we must inherit and carry forward to keep China-France relations at the forefront of the times,” Xi said. He went on to say the common pursuit for peace, development, fairness and justice has not changed. He said both China and France uphold the basic norms governing international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter while practicing multilateralism and opposing protectionism and unilateralism in international affairs.

Both countries are committed to building an open world economy and working together to meet the common challenges facing humanity, Xi said, adding that China and France have cooperated successfully in the field of climate change, playing a positive leading role in the world. The mutually beneficial and win-win nature of China-France cooperation has not changed, Xi said. “The history of China-France cooperation shows that bilateral ties are not ‘a zero-sum game.’ The strong complementarity between the two economies will remain for a long time,” Xi said, adding that China’s sustained development and further opening-up will create a host of new opportunities as well as broader space for bilateral cooperation.