Chirac: Co-operative partnership beneficial
(newsphoto)
Updated: 2004-10-12 11:43

French President Jacques Chirac makes a traditional Chinese gesture to say thank you and bid farewell to students in Shanghai Tongji University after delivering a speech October 11, 2004. [newsphoto] French President Jacques Chirac (L) receives a traditional Chinese painting from and done by a Chinese student Mei Jingjie, in Tongji University in Shanghai, October 11, 2004. [newsphoto] French President Jacques Chirac delivers a speech in Tongji University in Shanghai, October 11, 2004. [newsphoto] Jacques Chirac receives a mobile phone call upon his arrival at Tongji University in Shanghai October 11, 2004. [newsphoto]

SHANGHAI: Taking humanism as the major topic of their dialogue, the co-operative relations between France and China will serve the world in the future, said French President Jacques Chirac yesterday.

In an address at the prestigious Tongji University, Chirac said France, the first country in the world to advocate "freedom, equality and humanism," sees humanism as the fundamental requirement of the World Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and also the basis of French ethics.

Respect for diversity is the basis for the rights and obligations of human beings, societies and nations.

When specifying the target of France-China co-operation, Chirac said France and China share a belief and wish for a just and peaceful world, stable economic development and a well-off life for their people. Both also believe that diverse cultures of different ethnic groups should be respected.

"We have a multilateral world," Chirac acknowledged. "France and China both positively stand for group action to obtain sustainable development, control large-scale epidemics, and fight against terrorism.

"They also focus on respect for cultural diversification in different ethnic groups, advocating for peaceful and prosperous international rules within the framework of the UN."

In Tongji, he also witnessed the establishment of a France-China science and technology centre .

Chirac said France-China projects have reached the highest level in human genome research, superconductor material, information technology and applied mathematics.

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