Chinese Panda and French Gallic Rooster Can Hug Each Other （Jiang Shixue）

In mid-April Chinese netizens were happy to see that Iceland’s female Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir arrived in Beijing with her “first girl friend”. Ten days later they were again pleased to see that another European head of state came to Beijing with his “first girl friend”.

France can boast of having at least three “first”: It was the first major Western country to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China as early as in 1964; Francois Hollande has become the first major western leader to be received by the new Chinese leaders in Beijing; and the first foreign ambassador President Hollande met with after he was elected in May 2012 was from China.

It is interesting to note that the joint communiqué of setting up the diplomatic tie between China and France were short, only 45 Chinese characters. But the reaction from around the world was grave. Particularly, the United States was very disappointed by De Gaulle’s diplomatic move. The Time magazine wrote: “As a nation, France has seemed to be dying all through the 20th century … Yet last week the impossible had apparently come true, and France was once more a mover and shaker in world affairs ... To cap his nation's re-emergence as a world power, De Gaulle recognized the communist regime in Beijing as the government of China, brushing aside protests from Washington that the move would seriously damage US policy in Asia.”

Development of the relationship between China and France over the past half a century was not smooth.  In 1992, for instance, France decided to sell offensive arms to the Chinese province of Taiwan. To teach France a lesson, China reacted with decisive measures: The major French investment projects were stopped or canceled; its Consulate General in Guangzhou was closed; and bilateral exchanges above the ministerial level were suspended.

It was not in early 1994 when a joint declaration was published that the bilateral relations were normalized. In this document, France promised not to sell arms to Taiwan again, recognizing that Taiwan is a part of the People’s Republic of China.

France assumed the rotating EU Presidency on July 1, 2008. This should have created a good opportunity for President Sarkozy to promote relations between France and China. But he blackmailed China for attending the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic on August 8 on the condition that the dialogue between the central government of China and the representatives of Dalai Lama could be fruitful. He did show up at the Bird’s Net Stadium for the grand ceremony, but also kept his promise of meeting Dalai Lama in December, the first head of state of the EU Presidency to do so.

Sarkozy’s defiance resulted in China’s strong reactions. The planned China-EU Summit was postponed and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s trip to Europe in early 2009 purposefully excluded France. Premier Wen later said that, when he looked at the map, he noticed that his airplane did circle around France.

Recognizing the importance of maintaining good relations, China and France publicized a joint press communiqué on April 1, 2009, saying that France fully recognizes the importance and sensitivity of the Tibet issue, reaffirms its adherence to the one-China policy and the position that Tibet is an integral part of the Chinese territory, in accordance with the decision made by General Charles de Gaulle, and refuses to support any form of “Tibet independence”.

Since then, China-France relations have been moving forward smoothly. France has become China’s fourth largest trade partner in the EU, only behind Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Bilateral trade increased from $13.4 billion in 2003 to $51 billion in 2012. Two-way direct investments have grown rapidly as well.

Cooperation and exchanges in other areas have also proceeded steadily with mutual satisfaction. For instance, more than 700 projects in science and technology have been implemented. One cultural activity after another has been organized in Beijing and Paris. So far there are more than 120 pairs of Chinese and French universities and middle schools conducting all kinds of educational exchange programs. More than 45000 French students are learning Chinese in the 15 Confucius Institutes and other places across France. Starting from January 1, 2013, French visitors can stopover in Beijing and Shanghai for up to 72 hours with no entry visa required.  Along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, there are many groups of smiling Chinese tourists, including those standing in lines to purchase luxurious French goods.

In retrospect, we can conclude that, in order to avoid zigzags in the bilateral relations between China and France, both sides need to respect the “core interest” of the other. China’s “core interest” includes territorial integrity. Any attempt to interfere with China’s sovereignty over Taiwan and Tibet would cause backlash.

France’s “core interest” seems to be its concern over human rights situation inside and outside its national borders. According to the joint press communiqué released on April 26, 2013, both sides will promote and protect human rights according to the UN Charter and reaffirm that human rights dialogue between China and the EU will continue on the basis of mutual respect.

China and France established the so-called comprehensive strategic partnership in 2004. Despite the fact that different people have different understanding of this terminology, it is highly necessary for both sides to make it live up to people’s expectation by expanding and deepening bilateral cooperation and exchanges, particularly in the economic areas.

It was reported that Hollande was criticized by the Sarkozy team in the presidential election campaign that he could not be a competent head of state for France as he had never been to China. Hollande replied, “I am going to visit China as soon as I can.” The French leader keeps his promise.

（Contact Jiang Shixue：jiangsx@cass.org.cn）