French connection to more fruitful engagement

This is an editorial from China Daily.

Unlike what its name suggests, the 24th China-France Strategic Dialogue, which just concluded in Beijing, was not about "deliverables" alone but rather about the orientation of bilateral ties. As a significant follow-up to the 12th European Union-China High-level Strategic Dialogue last month, the China-France engagement testifies to a shared interest in sustaining the mutually beneficial aspects of bilateral ties.

The dialogue, featuring Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the French president's diplomatic counselor, Emmanuel Bonne, was reportedly "friendly and in-depth", and the consensuses were broad and upbeat.

The verbal consensuses they reached are of great importance to both sides in these times of transformative changes. This dialogue and the earlier China-EU dialogue have injected new energy into China-France and China-EU cooperation while providing the anchor for the important relationships to weather the political turbulence sweeping across the world. Amid the strong headwinds of a divided world, a persistent China-France and China-EU bond would be critical to promoting world peace and stability.

China is indeed under daunting pressure as Western economies impose technology blockade and try "de-risking" themselves from China-linked supply chains. Yet in this process, and in their effort to suppress China economically, France and the EU, too, have found their economies more than bruised. And even If the United States, which is seemingly behind all of this, is determined to do or pay whatever it takes for outcompeting China, much of the rest of the world is not ready to suffer collateral damage.

As he did with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Wang Yi put considerable emphasis on the French and the EU's independence in terms of foreign, and economic and trade policies during his discussion with Bonne. Calling China and France "independent major countries", Wang told Bonne that China regards the EU as an independent and important part of the multipolar world, which echoes French President Emmanuel Macron's call for Europe's "strategic autonomy", and Borrell's for China to treat the EU as just that.

What should be most consoling to Beijing are Bonne's words that France has confidence in China's economy, and has no intention of checking China's development. Never before had such a statement carried so much weight for Beijing.

In spite of Brussels defining Beijing as a "systemic rival" and calling for corresponding economic "dependencies", Wang, as he did with Borrell, told Bonne that China and the EU are partners, not rivals, and their common interests far outweigh their differences. At the end of the day, France and the EU need to treat China "in a more pragmatic and rational manner, avoid external interference" in order to achieve mutual benefit.