Xi Jinping held talks with French President Macron

On the afternoon of May 6, local time, President Xi Jinping held talks with French President Macron at the Elysée Palace in Paris.

Xi Jinping pointed out that he was pleased to pay his third state visit to France on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. The precious 60-year history of China-France relations will enable us to better think about how to start the next 60 years. In the current world of century-old changes, both sides should adhere to the original aspirations of establishing diplomatic relations of independence, mutual understanding, foresight, and mutual benefit, and inject new connotations of the era into it, so as to create a China-France relationship featuring mutual trust, stability, integrity, innovation, and responsibility in the new era. Both sides must adhere to independence and jointly prevent a "new cold war" or camp confrontation; they must persist in mutual understanding and jointly promote harmonious coexistence in a colorful world; they must maintain a long-term vision and jointly promote an equal and orderly multipolarity of the world; they must persist in mutual benefit and win-win, and jointly promote a multi-polar world. Oppose "decoupling and breaking chains".

Xi Jinping emphasized that China is willing to maintain strategic communication with France, respect each other's core interests, and consolidate the strategic stability of bilateral relations. Explore the vast potential of mutually beneficial cooperation and promote an upward balance in bilateral trade. China is willing to import more high-quality French products, promote the "from French farm to Chinese table" mechanism to achieve more practical results, and hopes that France will export more high-tech and high value-added products to China. The two sides should strengthen the alignment of development strategies, deepen cooperation in traditional advantageous areas such as aerospace and aviation, strengthen cooperation in nuclear energy, innovation, and finance, and expand cooperation in emerging areas such as green energy, intelligent manufacturing, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence. China has fully liberalized manufacturing access and will accelerate market access for telecommunications, medical and other service industries. It welcomes more French companies to invest in China and hopes that France will provide a good business environment for Chinese companies to invest and cooperate in France. and stable development expectations.

Xi Jinping emphasized that China and France are both cultural countries, and the two sides should speed up the "two-way" people-to-people and cultural exchanges, continue to successfully organize various activities of the China-France Culture and Tourism Year, and actively promote cooperation in joint protection and restoration of cultural relics and the establishment of world heritage sites. China welcomes more French friends to visit China, and has extended the visa-free policy for citizens of 12 countries including France to come to China for short-term visits until the end of 2025, pushing the number of French students in China to exceed 10,000 in the next three years and doubling the scale of European youth exchanges in China. Fan. China supports France in successfully hosting the Paris Olympics and will send a high-level delegation to France to compete. China is willing to deepen cooperation with France in areas such as climate change and biodiversity, support France in successfully hosting the United Nations Ocean Conference, and encourage the pairing of relevant national parks and nature reserves of the two countries. China is also willing to strengthen dialogue and communication with France in areas such as artificial intelligence governance and the reform of the international financial system.

Macron said that this year France and China will jointly celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and China. France and China enjoy friendly relations and fruitful cooperation, which not only involves high-end technologies, but also global issues such as climate change and ocean diversity. During President Xi Jinping's visit, the two sides signed a number of cooperation agreements, once again demonstrating the potential and prospects of France-China cooperation. At present, the world is facing many urgent challenges, and France-China relations are at a critical moment of inheriting the past and ushering in the future. France-China relations have a profound foundation. The two sides respect each other, take a long-term perspective and strengthen cooperation, which will play an important and positive role in solving global challenges and avoiding group antagonism and confrontation. France hopes to further strengthen bilateral economic relations and multilateral communication and coordination with China, and promote the France-China strategic partnership to achieve more results. France hopes to export more agricultural products to China, while keeping its market open to China and will not engage in discriminatory policies against Chinese companies. It welcomes more Chinese companies, including high-tech companies, to invest and cooperate in France. France is willing to strengthen cooperation with China in aerospace, civil nuclear energy and other fields, jointly organize this year's France-China Culture and Tourism Year activities, and welcomes China to send a delegation to attend the Paris Olympics. France is willing to communicate and cooperate closely with China on global issues such as climate change, biodiversity protection, and artificial intelligence, and jointly safeguard multilateralism, the purposes of the United Nations Charter, and international law.

The two sides also had an in-depth exchange of views on international and regional issues of common concern such as the Ukraine crisis and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Xi Jinping pointed out that the world today is very uneven. As both permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, China and France should speak out for the peaceful resolution of hot-spot issues and contribute to building a world of lasting peace and universal security. China is willing to work with France to take the Paris Olympics as an opportunity to advocate a global ceasefire and cessation of war during the Games.

The two sides issued four joint statements on the situation in the Middle East, artificial intelligence and global governance, biodiversity and oceans, and agricultural exchanges and cooperation, and signed nearly 20 bilateral cooperation documents in the fields of green development, aviation, agriculture and food, commerce, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

After the talks, Xi Jinping and Macron met with reporters together.

That night, Macron and his wife Brigitte held a grand welcome dinner for Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan at the Elysée Palace.