french president emmanuel macron started his state visit to china this week and will attend the second china international import expo (ciie) in shanghai. the visit coincides with the 55th anniversary of the establishment of china-france diplomatic ties.
in their messages to congratulate the anniversary this january, president xi jinping noted china and france carried special historical missions and responsibilities, and french president macron said both countries played a unique role in safeguarding a rules-based multilateral international system.
where does the specialty and uniqueness of sino-france relations come from? the 55th anniversary provides us with an occasion to reflect on the two countries’ relations in a changing global order.
history of exchanges
about 4,000 young chinese studied in france from 1912 to 1927, including future chinese politicians zhou enlai, deng xiaoping and chen yi and scientists qian sanqiang and yan jici, artists xu beihong and xian xinghai, as well as writers ba jin and qian zhongshu.
these people made great contributions to the newly founded people’s republic of china after their study at the lyon sino-french institute.
the lyon sino-french institute, established in july 1921, witnessed a unique period of exchange between china and france. president xi visited the former site of the lyon sino-french institute as part of his state visit to france in march 2014.
establishment of diplomatic ties
on jan 27, 1964, chinese and french leaders made the historic choice to officially establish bilateral diplomatic relations between the two countries.
the joint communiqué establishing diplomatic ties between the two countries was extremely short: only 45 chinese characters. but the reaction from around the world was overwhelming, because france was the first major western country to establish diplomatic ties with new china.
firsts in sino-french relations
then-premier zhou enlai welcomes then-french president georges pompidou to beijing on sept 11, 1973. [photo/xinhua]
china and france had many "firsts" in sino-western relations. in 1973, georges pompidou became the first french and western head of state to visit china.
france was the first country to begin cooperation with china in nuclear energy and initiate strategic partnerships and dialogues. china's very first commercial nuclear power plant at daya bay in shenzhen was built with french technology.
france was the first major western country to establish official partnerships with china, with joint statements on "comprehensive partnership" in 1997 and "comprehensive strategic partnership" in 2004.
bilateral trade and investment
china-france bilateral trade was just around $100 million in 1964; now it has increased 600 times, and is worth $62.9 billion in 2018 — an increase of more than 15 percent from 2017.
france is now china's fourth-largest trade partner in the eu, behind germany, the netherlands and the uk. china is france’s largest trade partner in asia.
two-way direct investments are also on the rise. china’s direct investment into france increased 86 percent year-on-year to $1.8 billion in 2018. a large amount of the investment flowed into the energy sector. french investment in china can be characterized by large bilateral contracts, especially in the aviation and nuclear energy fields.
aviation cooperation
employees work on the assembly of an airbus a320 airplane at the company's plant in tianjin. [photo/agencies]
china is the largest single-country market for airbus, representing about one-quarter of global sales. in 2008, a joint venture of the a320 final assembly line was set up in tianjin to meet surging demand from chinese customers.
it is the third single-aisle aircraft final assembly line location of airbus and first outside europe. in june 2009, the airbus a320 fala in tianjin delivered its first aircraft.
in 2017, the value of industrial cooperation between airbus and china exceeded $640 million, and the figure is expected to reach one billion dollars by 2020.
largest sino-french energy project
a bird's-eye view of the nuclear power plant in taishan, guangdong province. [photo/vcg]
a third-generation european pressurized reactor (epr) nuclear power unit at taishan power plant in south china's guangdong province was successfully linked to grid in 2018.
the taishan nuclear power plant's no 1 power unit is the world's first third-generation epr nuclear power unit that has been linked to grid.
the plant is the largest sino-french project in the energy field. it is run by a joint venture set up by china general nuclear power corp,or cgn, french energy supplier electricite de france (edf), and guangdong yudean group.
third-country projects
china and france also cooperated on third-country projects, such as the hinkley point c nuclear power plant in the uk, which is jointly financed by the two countries.
it will be co-built by cgn and french energy company edf.
people-to-people exchanges
a chinese tourist takes a selfie in front of the notre dame cathedral in paris, france on may 5, 2016. [photo/agencies]
thanks to china's growing wealth, more chinese can afford to study or spend their holidays in france. with around 30,000 students in france, china is the third-largest source of international students in france, behind morocco and algeria.
the number of chinese tourists in france surpassed 2.3 million in 2018. french visitors can stop over for up to 72 hours with no entry visa required in chinese cities including beijing, shanghai and guangzhou.
belt and road, new opportunity
president xi visited the southern french city of lyon, one of the final stops of the ancient silk road trade routes, in his state visit to france in march 2014. consequently in january of 2018, president macron visited xi'an, one of the eastern ends of the ancient silk road, during his first china visit as head of state.
during meetings, the two countries agreed to advance the joint development of the belt and road initiative and explore third-market cooperation. france is one of the founding members of the asian infrastructure investment bank.
connectivity under belt and road initiative
the decathlon freight train transports goods between china and france. china daily
the lyon-wuhan freight rail line was launched in april 2016. since then, thousands of bottles of bordeaux wine, auto parts and french agricultural products have been exported to china.
the rail freight service is now also available for refrigerated agricultural products. trains are loaded and unloaded in venissieux, 16 kilometers far from lyon. there are two trains per week in both directions.
in 2017, decathlon, one of france's leading sports goods retailers, began transporting products made in its factory in wuhan, capital of hubei province, to its warehouses in dourges, northern france, direct by rail.
the weekly 41-container freight train allowed decathlon's products to reach france in 16 to 18 days, compared with the 20 days previously needed when transported by sea.
these businesses have turned the vision of belt and road connectivity into profitability.
