BEIJING, May 8, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in
Tarbes, Hautes-Pyrenees Department of France on Tuesday, as part of his state visit
to the European country. Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan were welcomed
by French President Emmanuel Macron
and his wife, Brigitte Macron, at the airport.
Nearly 300 overseas Chinese from southern French cities such as
Toulouse, Lyon and Cannes, holding Chinese and French national
flags, welcomed Xi at Tarbes airport.
The Pyrenees is the birthplace of Macron's maternal grandmother,
who was from the Pyrenean town of Bagnères-de-Bigorre. In his
childhood, the French president commonly visited the town to see
his grandmother.
Xi and Macron - together with their wives - visited a mountain
restaurant. Before lunch, they watched a traditional folk dance
performance and took a picture together, media reported.
"Arranging a meeting in the Pyrenees shows that President Macron
attaches great importance to the effect of head-of-state diplomacy
on elevating China-France relations. He also hopes that his
personal relationship will allow the two sides to discuss global
governance issues, bilateral issues and the regional situation in a
more relaxing manner," Dong Yifan, a research fellow at the
Institute of European Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary
International Relations, told the Global Times.
A new climax in high-level exchanges
The talks in the Pyrenees are reminiscent of the scenario in
April 2023 when the Chinese and
French top leaders met for informal talks in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province. The two leaders strolled
through the Pine Garden close to Baiyun
Mountain, chatting and stopping at times to enjoy the unique
scenery of the southern Chinese garden. They had tea by the water,
enjoying the view and discussing the past and present. Xi and
Macron listened to the guqin (Chinese zither) melody "High Mountain
and Flowing Water" at Baiyun Hall. Xi then invited Macron to
dinner.
The similar interaction between the Chinese and French leaders
can also date back to 2019 when in the French city of Nice in
March, Macron received Xi at Villa Kerylos, a century-old house
overlooking the Mediterranean and seen as a microcosm reflecting
European civilization.
Later that year, in November, President Xi and his wife Peng
Liyuan met with Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron in the Yuyuan
Garden in Shanghai. The two
couples walked in the garden and enjoyed the unique night
scape.
Song Luzheng, a Chinese scholar residing in France and a research fellow at the China
Institute of Fudan University, believes that arranging a meeting in
the Pyrenees intends to show that the two leaders have broad
visions and mind-sets to see things from a global perspective, as
there is a Chinese saying, "stand tall and see far."
"Mutual trust and mutual understanding between leaders can help
the two countries to face up to common challenges and solve
problems," Song told the Global Times, adding that he sees the
Pyrenees meeting between Xi and Macron as a display of high-level
mutual trust between the two countries.
Keeping momentum
Xi and Macron held talks at the Elysee Palace on Monday.
President Xi said that the two sides should stay committed to the
spirit that guided the establishment of their diplomatic ties,
namely, independence, mutual understanding, long-term vision and
mutual benefit, and enrich it with new features of the new era.
The two sides should continue to understand each other, jointly
promote harmonious coexistence in a colorful world, stick to taking
a long view and work together for an equal and orderly multipolar
world, he said.
China is willing to maintain
strategic communication with France, respect each other's core interests,
consolidate the strategic stability of bilateral relations, tap the
vast potential of mutually beneficial cooperation and facilitate
growth and balance in bilateral trade, Xi said.
Macron said that France and
China, through mutual respect, a
long-term perspective and strengthened cooperation, will play an
important and positive role in addressing global challenges and
opposing any logic of bloc confrontation.
France would like to have
closer economic ties and multilateral communication and
collaboration with China, and work
for more outcomes in the France-China
strategic partnership, he said.
At the joint meeting with the press with Macron after their
talks, President Xi said that the two sides have agreed on
consolidating the strategic stability of bilateral relations,
exploring the great potential for mutually beneficial cooperation,
accelerating people-to-people exchanges and building greater
consensus on global cooperation.
Pierre Picquart, an expert in geopolitics and human geography
from the University of Paris-VIII, told the Global Times that
despite certain differences between China and France, maintaining high-level dialogue
between the two sides is of paramount importance.
"Preserving this high-level dialogue is essential to promoting
cooperation on critical issues, thereby contributing to regional
and global stability," said Picquart.
Xi left France and headed for
Serbia on Tuesday evening local time.
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SOURCE Global Times