2010-03-31 08:15

French scholars, diplomats think China key to multi-polar world

BEIJING - Sino-French relations have been salvaged from a nearly two-year diplomatic chill, leading diplomats and experts from both sides said during a seminar on Sino-French relations held in Beijing on Tuesday.

They also urged both nations to cooperate better to face rising global challenges in a 'multi-polar' world. Although the French side called China a "strong and wealthy" power, their Chinese counterparts disagreed, saying the nation was still a "developing country".

Tang Jiaxuan, China's former foreign minister and State councilor, said Sino-French ties have "revived and developed" after a bumpy period starting early 2008.

The relationship started to sour during spring 2008 when the torch relay of the Beijing Olympic Games was disturbed by Tibetan separatists in Paris.

It touched bottom in December 2008 when French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with the Dalai Lama at a time when France was holding the rotating presidency of the European Union. China, in retaliation, postponed an annual summit with leaders from the 27-nation bloc.

After much effort, including some high-level diplomatic visits in 2009 and early this year, both countries now have an important occasion to further the relationship, Tang said.

"Now, there are about 3,800 French firms in China, while more than 100 Chinese companies have invested in France," he said. The French ambassador to China, Herve Ladsous said Sarkozy would attend the opening ceremony of the Shanghai Expo, scheduled for April 30. President Hu Jintao is also expected to visit France within the year, he said. China is now a "strong and wealthy" power in the world, Ladsous said.

It "should look further and give more suggestions" on issues facing the world, including the Middle East situation, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea nuclear issue, and to usher in a monetary system that will adapt to a 'multi-polar' world, he said.

Hubert Vedrine, a former French foreign minister, said China was actually a "strong pole" of the multi-polar world.

Countries such as France and Germany need to adjust their policies according to China's development, Vedrine said. Francois Gere, the director of the Institut Francais d'Analyse Strategique, also said China was already a strong power, which needed to adapt to the big rules on the world stage.

Chinese participants at the seminar, however, disagreed.

Feng Zhongping, the director of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations' European chapter, said it would easily cause misunderstanding in the West if officials said China was no longer a developing country.

"It might backfire if (the West) asks too much from China; it will affect cooperation," he said.

Cai Fangbai, a former Chinese ambassador to France, suggested that French citizens should spend some time in Chinese countryside to get a better picture of the country.

"China has more than 80 million disabled people, 20 million more than the entire French population," Tang said. And 40 million Chinese still live below the poverty line, he said.