Foreign and Military Affairs

French media tom-toms closer ties with Beijing

By Zhang Haizhou and Ai Yang (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-07 08:42

Sino-French ties are back on track after it hit rock bottom last year - at least, that is the message the French media has conveyed over the past few weeks.

Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the pro-China former French prime minister, argued in a recent article that France should "play a key role" in promoting Sino-European ties.

The article - Furthering Sino-French Relations on the Basis of Mutual Respect - was published in an influential French foreign affairs magazine. Apart from the veteran politician's opinion piece, the French journal also highlighted changes in China's culture, society and economy in a 40-page special report, China: An Emerging World Power.

It also published an exclusive interview with the Chinese Ambassador, Kong Quan, who referred to 2010 as a year in which bilateral ties would develop "better and faster".

"Both sides would see closer cooperation and communication at all levels and in all areas," Kong said, noting that Sino-French ties had gotten back on track in 2009.

Earlier, Le Point, a French weekly, published an 81-page special supplement on China along with its 2009 year-ender issue. French channel TV5 labeled China a major player in the global arena, and the locomotive pulling the world out of recession, during a year-ender program.

"These reports show that Sino-French ties would see significant growth in 2010. This reflects the actual opinion of French citizens," the China News Service said on Wednesday.

Chinese foreign affairs experts however showed muted optimism about the status of bilateral ties.

They said improving ties with Beijing was a pragmatic choice for Paris since the world was under a severe recession.

Ma Shengli, an expert on France at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the French media's shift in attitude was the sign of "a general trend" of accepting China's emergence as a major world player.

Existing problems between the two countries were however not likely to be resolved easily due to the different value, cultural and political systems, he said.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, former French president Jacques Chirac pushed Sino-French ties to new heights.

But they soured in 2008 when the Beijing Olympics torch relay was severely disrupted in Paris. The relations touched bottom after French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with the Dalai Lama in December 2008.

Though both sides made efforts to save the relationship, "it is hardly possible for Europeans to change their set opinions about China so soon", said Zhang Tong, a EU expert at the Beijing-based China University of Political Science and Law.

European politicians, including Sarkozy and British climate change minister Ed Miliband, blamed China for hindering last month's UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen from achieving a binding agreement.

"But they have to attach importance to China and improve ties considering Beijing's rising status, particularly following the global economic crisis," Zhang said.