China, France vow to safeguard free trade

China and France vowed to boost globalization and safeguard free trade by condemning rising protectionism after Premier Li Keqiang met with his visiting French counterpart on Tuesday.

"We firmly support an integrated Europe that is unified, prosperous and stable, which will help boost China's ties with France and the European Union as well as multilateralism and globalization," the premier said while meeting with French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

Both leaders agreed to send the international community a strong signal to jointly cope with risks and challenges, fight protectionism in any form and boost multilateralism and economic opening-up, Li told a news conference after the meeting.