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China vows to strengthen French ties

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-23 18:58

BEIJING -- China is willing to continue exchanges with France so as to further strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu said here on Thursday.

Speaker of the French National Assembly Bernard Accoyer is in China until Sunday at the invitation of Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature.

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Jiang told a regular press conference that Accoyer is the second speaker of the French National Assembly to visit China since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in 1964.

"China has attached great importance to Accoyer's visit," Jiang said.

Wu held fruitful talks with Accoyer on Monday. After the talks, they signed a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of regular exchange mechanism between the legislatures.

According to Jiang, Chinese President Hu Jintao will meet with Accoyer on Friday.

"Accoyer's China visit is conducive to enhancing the friendly cooperation between China and France as well as the legislatures of the two countries and promoting mutual understanding between them," she said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in London ahead of a Group of 20 summit on the global financial crisis, signifying the restoration of bilateral ties soured by the French leader's meeting with the Dalai Lama.

The meeting also came hours after China and France issued a press release on April 1 that said the two sides "attach great importance to China-France relations" and reiterated their adherence to the principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs.

Relations hit a low after French President Sarkozy held a private meeting with the Dalai Lama last year in Poland when France held the rotating presidency of the European Union. China postponed the 11th China-EU Summit and lodged a strong protest against the meeting, saying it "severely undermined China's core interests."