China calls on France to take concrete actions to promote ties

BEIJING— Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said here Sunday China hoped France would pay highly attention to the current problems in bilateral relations and take concrete actions to promote the ties.
Xi made the remarks in a meeting with Jean-David Levitte, a diplomatic adviser of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
“We hope the French side will pay great attention to the current problems in China-France relationship, take concrete actions and work with China to overcome difficulties, enhance friendship and deepen mutual trust, so as to make the relationship continue to develop in a healthy and stable way,” Xi said. He said that series of events that were unfriendly to China occurred in France recently and such events have hurt the Chinese people’s feelings and also damaged the image of France in the minds of the Chinese people. “Such situation in the China-France relations is what we do not want to see,” said Xi.
He said that the steady development of China-France relationship since the establishment of diplomatic ties 44 years ago and especially rapid in the recent dozen years was the result of efforts by the leaders of several generations from both countries, and thus should be doubly cherished and maintained.
He said China held that it was in the common interests of both countries and conducive to world peace, stability and development to consolidate and develop the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.
Xi added that China has always regarded and handled its relations with France from a strategic and long-term point of view and sticked to the guideline of friendship, comprehensive cooperation and common development with France. He also explained the Chinese government’s policies on Tibet and briefed on the preparation for the Beijing Olympic Games, saying the Chinese government and people had the confidence and ability to hold the Games successfully with high-level and uniqueness.
Levitte said the French government and President Sarkozy attached great importance to improving and strengthening the comprehensive strategic partnership between France and China and were ready to do all they could in this regard.
Noting that France welcomed China’s development and believed that China’s development was beneficial to France and the world, he stressed that France definitely supported the one-China policy and recognized that Tibet and Taiwan are inalienable parts of the Chinese territory.
He also wished the Beijing Olympics a great success.
Levitte is here for a visit to China, which started from April 26. China and France have sent envoys to visit each other, conveying messages to respective leaders in the hope of mending the strained bilateral ties due to the recent biased reports on China in France and the disturbance of the Olympic torch relay in Paris on April 7.

—Xinhua