French President Jacques Chirac said his country is willing to
further strengthen co-operation with China, his spokesman told
reporters on Monday.
Chirac has expressed his belief that China's development is an
opportunity for economic growth and job creation in France, Jerome
Bonnafont said.
"France must seize this chance because it has the capacity to be
the partner of reference for China in many areas in which the
strong features of the French economy can match the needs of
China," the spokesman said.
Chirac started his Asian tour Tuesday, with a state visit to
Viet Nam, where he will attend an Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit
in Hanoi.
Chirac will start a five-day state visit to China on Friday.
The two countries have a similar outlook on many political
issues, but France lags behind other European Union (EU) countries
in terms of investment in China and has a long way to go amid
fierce competition from countries such as the United States and
Japan, he noted.
France is China's fourth-largest trading partner in the EU, well
behind Germany, although bilateral trade grew strongly to US$13.4
billion last year and is expected to increase by 40 per cent this
year.
President Chirac and more than 50 French industrialists will
launch a "concerted offensive" to win a larger slice of China's
market, said Bonnafont.
(China Daily October 6, 2004)