Why Sino-French ties matter more today

On May 7, France will elect a new president, and as has been the case in previous electoral campaigns, presidential candidates have been focusing on domestic issues.

President Franois Hollande's successor will nevertheless rapidly realize that, in a globalized world, domestic and international issues are deeply interrelated and that, in a century in which China has regained centrality, the relations between Paris and Beijing not only deserve the greatest attention but also call for strategic actions.

China should be on the top of the next French president's agenda for at least six reasons: necessity to strengthen the links between China and the European Union to balance the trans-Pacific interactions, the design of a more effective global governance, the absolute imperative of sustainability, the creation of an Afro-Eurasian partnership of prosperity along the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, shared economic growth and the quest for equilibrium between a world of ubiquitous technology and human dignity.