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Chinese urban youth lose French passion: Poll
By Li Xiang (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-20 09:32 Nearly one-third of the respondents agreed that China's relationship with France is important, similar to Germany (29.2 percent) and Britain (29 percent), but still lagging far behind the United States (51.4 percent). About 30 percent of Chinese urban youths hold a positive view of France's role in international security and anti-terrorism cooperation. They also had a favorable impression of the country's treatment of minorities. Similarly, the survey showed that a vast majority of young Chinese were confident of the future of Sino-French relations. Nearly 70 percent of them were optimistic about the relationship. France has become China's fourth largest trading partner in the European Union (EU) in recent years, official figures have showed. Bilateral trade volume amounted to $33.6 billion last year, an increase of 33.7 percent from 2006. More than 15,000 Chinese students go to France to study every year. The survey also found that most Chinese youths continue to regard China's relations with the EU as one of the most important, despite similar Olympic torch relay disruptions in a number of EU member countries. More than 40 percent of those polled thought positively of current China-EU relations, ranked only after China-US relations. The survey also suggested that a majority of Chinese youths hope to know more about the EU through the media and travel. "The survey showed an accurate understanding among Chinese urban youth of the European Union and the positive assessment of the EU is an excellent signal for the future," said Franck Debie, general director of the Foundation of Innovative Politics. A majority of Chinese youth believe that Europe is not going to become a military superpower with hegemonic ambitions, but an equal partner in trade, science and culture with China, he said.
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