CHINA / National
French president kicks off visit
By Sun Shangwu/Ye Jun/ (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-10-26 06:30
French President Jacques Chirac arrived in Beijing Wednesday on a
four-day state visit to China a country he says will affect the future of
the world. [Chirac dines on La Cuisine Chinoise, savours favourite dishes
of emperors]
Analysts said that Chirac could use the visit, widely believed to be
perhaps his last trip to China as president, to boost France's role and
seek business benefits for French companies. Chirac, 73, will end his
second term in office next year. [Busy Schedule]
France's President Jacques Chirac enters a car after arriving at Beijing
airport October 25, 2006. French President Chirac leads an elite business
contingent to China on Wednesday, hoping to seize a greater share of the
world's fourth largest economy on a 4-day state visit. [Reuters] [More
Photos on Chirac visit]
Today, he is scheduled to meet top Chinese leaders, including President
Hu Jintao, top legislator Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao.
In the political arena, issues such as the nuclear test conducted this
month by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as well as the Iran
nuclear issue will definitely be on the agenda of the summit between Hu
and Chirac, Wang Chaohui, a researcher at the European Studies Institute
affiliated to the China Institutes of Contemporary International
Relations, told China Daily yesterday.
The two sides are also expected to talk about the lifting of an EU arms
embargo on China, trade disputes as well as China's presence in Africa,
said Wang.
Chirac is devoted to building a "comprehensive strategic partnership"
with China and the current visit could set the tone for the future
development of bilateral relations, no matter who succeeds him next year,
according to Wang.
"Never in the long history of France-China relations have our
communications been so close, our mutual trust so much deepened and
high-level contacts so frequent," said Chirac in an interview with Xinhua
before the trip.
"Part of France's place in the world of tomorrow depends on its ability
to build a particularly strong relationship with China," Chirac's
spokesman Jerome Bonnafont was quoted as saying.
On the economic front, Chirac is travelling with some 30 French business
leaders and hopes to clinch agreements in areas such as nuclear energy
and rail transport where France enjoys technological advantages.
The chief executives include Jean-Martin Folz of Peugeot, Areva's Anne
Lauvergeon and Alstom's Patrick Kron, along with Societe Generale
Chairman Daniel Bouton and Airbus' Louis Gallois.
Airbus is reportedly keen to win orders on the trip, and nuclear reactor
maker Areva has bid for a contract with Germany's Siemens AG against
Westinghouse Electric Co and Russia's AtomStroyExport.
Alstom, the world's biggest maker of high-speed trains, aims to boost
sales in China, while France's Societe Generale bank wants to collaborate
with Guangdong Development Bank.
Bilateral trade volume reached US$20.65 billion last year and totalled
US$9.52 billion in the first five months of this year, up 21.2 per cent
over the same period of last year.
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