Strategic autonomy of France and EU key to steadying relations with Beijing

This is an editorial from China Daily.

Leading a large delegation of businesspeople and cultural ambassadors, French President Emmanuel Macron is paying a visit to China from Wednesday to Friday. Despite the tremendous upheavals the world has experienced since his last visit to China more than three years ago, particularly the great lengths the United States has been going to in a bid to sow discord between China and European countries, thanks to the joint efforts of both sides, China-France relations have maintained a positive and steady momentum of stable development.

The productivity of Sino-French economic and trade cooperation, the positive contributions the two permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have made to world peace, as well as the rich harvest yielded by their people-to-people exchanges over the past decades are all testimony to how major countries should handle bilateral relations. In doing so, the two sides have actively promoted the common good of the world by upholding independence, equality, inclusiveness and mutual respect.

The two countries have made important achievements in aviation, aerospace, agriculture and food industries, showing the fallacy of the claims that cooperation with China entails risks and putting into stark relief the maliciousness of the "value diplomacy" Washington painstakingly peddles around the world.

Thanks to the strategic autonomy that France upholds, Beijing and Paris have been able to eliminate the interference of Washington in their ties and maintained frequent and high quality strategic communication through various channels on such issues as climate change, biodiversity, the development of Africa and other hot issues, including the Ukraine crisis.

As President Xi Jinping pointed out during his meeting with Macron, as two major countries with a tradition of independence, China and France are both staunch promoters of a multipolar world and democracy in international relations, and they are shouldering their responsibilities and demonstrating they have the capability to transcend any differences.

That points to the larger-than-life significance of Sino-French relations, which are of worldwide importance. Given the open exchange channels between Beijing and Moscow and Kyiv, as well as the traditional ties between Paris and Washington, Macron's visit may prove to be of great significance if it can help break the deadlock hindering the peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis by lubricating communication between Washington and Moscow, albeit indirectly.

As a major member of the EU, France's deepening mutual trust with China is also conducive to creating a constructive and healthy atmosphere within the bloc to further advance the Sino-EU relations, which can be injected with fresh impetus as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is also paying a visit to China from Wednesday to Friday, her first since she took office in 2019.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership. As Xi stressed in a trilateral meeting with Von der Leyen and Macron on Thursday, China is ready to work with the EU to keep their relations on a healthy development track, restart exchanges at all levels, activate mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, remove disturbances and challenges, and give a shot in the arm to the growth of China-EU relations and world peace, stability and prosperity.