French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Beijing for state visit

BEIJING - At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for a state visit to China through Friday.

It is Macron's fourth state visit to China and a reciprocal visit to Xi's historic state visit to France last year that marked the 60th anniversary of China-France diplomatic relations.

During the visit this week, Xi will hold talks with Macron to jointly guide the development of China-France relations under the new circumstances. The two presidents will also have in-depth exchanges of views on major international and regional hotspot issues.

China is ready to work with France to take this visit as an opportunity to champion the spirit that guided the establishment of China-France diplomatic ties, strengthen strategic communication, deepen pragmatic cooperation, and work for closer coordination in multilateral affairs, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

Together, the two sides can make new progress in their comprehensive strategic partnership, promote the sound and steady development of China-EU relations, and contribute more to multilateralism and a peaceful, stable and prosperous world, the spokesperson added.