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German Chancellor Merkel visits China nine times in ten years
She is very practical.She is the second most frequent visitor, after President Putin.
Gives good idea about China's geopolitical and geoeconomic directions.
She is very practical.
This is the real trend of pivot to AsiaNow it's France's turn.
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Hollande praises France-China cooperation
2017-02-09 12:41:24 Xinhua Web Editor: Zhang Xu
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French President Francois Hollande speaks during a reception at Elysee Palace celebrating the Chinese New Year, on Feb. 8, 2017. [Photo: Chinanews.com]
The year 2016 "was a great year for France and China," said French President Francois Hollande Wednesday, lauding the outcome of bilateral relations over the past year.
During a reception at Elysee Palace celebrating the Chinese New Year, Holland said France and China have witnessed solid advances in civilian nuclear power in recent months, and expressed his appreciation for China's recognition of 45 appellations of wines from Bordeaux.
"I also hope that we can have more (human) exchanges between France and China," Hollande said, referring to the increase in the numbers of French visas issued to Chinese in the past few years.
In his speech, Hollande also praised his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on defending free trade at the Davos summit held in mid-January.
"President Xi Jinping, during his visit at the Davos summit, defended the principles of regulated trade," said Hollande, adding that France also rejects the "temptation of withdrawal, closure and protectionism."
In his keynote speech at Davos, Xi said: "Whether you like it or not, the global economy is the big ocean that you cannot escape from. Any attempt to cut off the flow of capital, technologies, products, industries and people between economies, and channel the waters in the ocean back into isolated lakes and creeks is simply not possible. Indeed, it runs counter to the historical trend."
Hollande also praised China for reaching an agreement on climate change in Paris, stressing the importance of the joint statement between France and China in fighting against climate change.
"France will not accept the questioning of the achievements of this negotiation or the agreement which commits all countries and surely the biggest of them," said Hollande.
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WORLD NEWS | Wed Feb 15, 2017 | 12:09pm EST
Exclusive: EU preparing early China summit in message to Trump - sources
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Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a meeting at the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, January 18, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
By Robin Emmott and Gabriela Baczynska | BRUSSELS
The European Union is preparing an early summit with China in April or May in Brussels to promote free trade and international cooperation in the face of a more protectionist and inward-looking Washington, three EU officials said.
China and the EU hold a summit every year, usually in July, and a date has yet to be fixed formally for 2017. One of the officials said Beijing had requested it to take place as early as possible. China's Foreign Ministry declined to comment.
The EU believes China wants to use the summit to press home President Xi Jinping's vigorous defense of open trade and global ties at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, in response to the new U.S. President Donald Trump.
"With an early summit, China wants to send a message to the United States that it has friends in Europe," said one official, who helps formulate EU policy.
The EU, on the other hand, wants to solicit China's vocal support for international institutions such as the United Nations, which Trump chided and Russia bypassed in securing a ceasefire in Syria through direct talks with Iran and Turkey.
"With this drive by some countries to undermine or weaken international institutions, we would want to see China supporting and believing in the United Nations, the World Trade Organization," a second EU official said.
The European Union is still cautious about the direction of its second-largest trading partner, concerned by China's massive steel exports, its militarization of islands in the South China Sea and a turn towards greater authoritarianism under Xi.
But while Trump has praised Britain's decision to leave the 28-nation EU - an unprecedented setback for the bloc - China has repeatedly said it wanted to see a strong, stable and united Europe, and has looked on nervously since the Brexit vote.
"We want a multi-polar world and the EU plays a very important part in that," said a source in Beijing familiar with China's thinking towards the EU.
Preoccupied by Britain's departure, the world's biggest trading bloc welcomes China's desire to stand up to Trump, who criticized China's trade practices and threatened to impose punitive tariffs on imports.
Trump has pulled out of a multilateral trade agreement with Asia-Pacific nations, vowed to renegotiate the U.S. free-trade deal with Canada and Mexico and wants to protect U.S. industries from foreign competition by levying new tariffs on goods.
"Europe doesn't want to see a reversal of globalization," said Jin Canrong of the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China. "If the Anglo-Saxon world withdraws from globalization, we hope China and Europe can take it on."
NO EASY RELATIONSHIP
The last meeting of the EU and Chinese leaders took place in Beijing in 2016 and was held in a tense atmosphere because, on the same day, an international court ruled China's claims to the South China Sea were unlawful.
An early summit this year could help put aside a difficult 2016, when the EU admonished Beijing diplomatically over the South China Sea, decided against recognizing China as an economy driven by market forces and saw both sides fail to resolve a deepening trade dispute over Chinese steel production.
China presents its westward infrastructure drive - the "One Belt, One Road" project - as beneficial for the EU and Beijing has already enticed EU governments to join the Chinese-led AIIB bank in defiance of Washington in 2015.
"If China wants to help uphold the rules-based global order, then we welcome that," said a third EU official. "But we also say: let's see some concrete steps."
Outstanding issues involve an investment pact that Beijing and Brussels agreed to negotiate in 2013 to make it easier for European businesses to work in China but which remains open. That is seen as a forerunner to a future free-trade accord.
China has also pledged to invest in the European Union's new infrastructure fund, but almost two years of on-off discussions have not lead to a decision by Beijing because it would not control how the money is spent.
While the European Union says it is neutral in the South China Sea dispute between China and other Asian nations, the bloc wants to see freedom of navigation and over flight upheld.
By far the world's top steel producer, China's annual steel output is almost double the EU's total production. Western governments say Chinese steel exports have caused a global steel crisis, costing jobs and forcing plant closures.
(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Alison Williams)
The EU may show goodwill by giving China market economy status and lift protectionist walls, as promised during WTO ascension talks.
That would leave the US and Japan in the cold and out-maneuvered. That would also suggest that the EU does really care about maintaining the globalizationist momentum in economics.