China, France can become ideal market economies

French President Emmanuel Macron sent his special representative Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a veteran French politician, to attend the Belt and Road Initiative Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing in May, only a few days after winning the French election, signaling he would visit China at an appropriate time soon. In fact, he announced his intention of visiting China when he met with President Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, in early July.

Although it took six months for him to embark on his three-day state visit to China, which started on Monday, it gave him enough time to prepare for his first trip to Asia as French president. Macron has been making efforts to expand cooperation with the Belt and Road Initiative, which is aimed at boosting connectivity between Asia, Europe and Africa. He met some of the senior officials who attended a high-level forum on the Belt and Road Initiative in Paris in September, and recently pledged to deepen cooperation with the participants in the initiative.

Macron visited Xi'an in Shaanxi province, the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, on Monday before holding formal talks with Xi. Hopefully, his endeavors will help him understand China better and lead to fruitful and in-depth discussions between the two leaders.