Chinese President Hu Jintao and French President Jacques Chirac
held talks in the Great Hall of the People Saturday afternoon. The
two presidents exchanged views on bilateral ties and international
and regional issues of mutual concern.
The Chinese president said President Chirac was an old friend of
the Chinese people, who has been promoting Sino-French friendship
for years and made important contributions to the Sino-French
comprehensive strategic partnership.
Hu said he believed this visit would help advance the
Sino-French comprehensive strategic partnership.
Chirac said he was very glad to visit China again and was deeply
impressed by the warm welcome to him in Chengdu, capital city of
Sichuan Province and first leg of his China tour. He also spoke
highly of the economic achievement in Sichuan.
Both sides agreed that the important consensus on deepening
bilateral relations reached by the two leaders at the beginning of
this year is being fulfilled and Sino-French relations manifest new
vigor and energy.
The two leaders emphasized that the Sino-French Culture Year is
a pioneering undertaking in the history of bilateral cultural
exchanges and is expected to exert profound influences on
development of bilateral relations.
Both sides also agreed to further promote and deepen bilateral
exchanges and cooperation in various fields and lift to a higher
level the Sino-French and Sino-European all-around strategic
partnership relations.
Sino-French relations have proceeded smoothly over the past
several years, and political trust and strategic cooperation have
been strengthened, Hu said, noting that the trade cooperation
between the two countries has seen new progress, with a drastic
growth of bilateral trade volume. He added that the exchanges in
other fields have achieved fruitful results and the cooperation in
international and multilateral fields has also been effective.
"The Sino-French relations have entered a new stage of
comprehensive and fast development," he said.
Hu raised a four-point proposal on promoting Sino-French ties
during the talks. He suggested China and France enhance strategic
dialogue and cooperation, enhance exchange between state leaders
and forge a mechanism of annual meeting between state leaders of
the two countries.
He proposed to strengthen Sino-French economic and trade ties
through cooperation in aviation, space flight, transportation,
nuclear energy, high-tech industry, small and medium-sized
enterprises, agriculture and environmental protection.
Hu suggested that the two countries enhance exchange and
cooperation in culture, education and science and technology, and
explore new ways of cooperation in those areas by summing up
experiences of the Chinese Culture Year in France and the French
Year in China.
He also suggested that the two countries step up coordination
and cooperation in international and regional issues, promoting
democracy in international relations and diversity in mode of
development.
Chirac said that France and China have advanced their
cooperation in an all-round manner and scored encouraging results.
The French government firmly supports the one-China principle and
opposes any move that will lead to intensification of cross-Straits
situation or Taiwan independence, he said.
Chirac said he completely agreed to Hu's four-point proposal on
developing bilateral all-round strategic partnership relations. He
said France is ready to make joint efforts with China for friendly
cooperation in various fields.
Following their talks, the two presidents attended the signing
ceremony on a batch of cooperative documents.
Chirac arrived in Beijing Saturday afternoon. Besides Chengdu
and Beijing, he will also visit Shanghai and Hong Kong. He is to
attend the opening ceremony of the French Culture Year in
China.
(Xinhua News Agency October 10)