Climate issues, AI top agenda between Xi-Macron talks: NGO founder

Global challenges including climate issues and artificial intelligence (AI) are expected to be major topics at the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Xi arrived in Paris on Sunday for a state visit to France at the invitation of President Macron.

Justin Vaisse, founder and director general of the Paris Peace Forum, a French non-profit organization, highlighted the significance of Xi's state visit to France, saying that global challenges, such as climate crisis and impacts of AI, will be major topics between the two leaders.

"There are lots of other things. There are global issues, whether it's on climate, which has been now for more than 10 years, a central pillar in the discussion between France and China at least since the COP 21 in 2015, where China played an important role in delivering the ultimate agreement that really constituted the basis for our multilateral efforts. So climate is really important. I'm also thinking of economic cooperation, people-to-people fields, but also I'm thinking of AI, so artificial intelligence is really shaping up as a major force in reshaping international relations. And I am sure that this will be one important issue of discussion between President Macron and President Xi," said Vaisse.

Vaisse also expounded on "strategic autonomy" pursued by France, emphasizing that the country's belief in being an ally of the United States rather than aligning completely with it.

"France has been distinct from other European countries in a strongly believing in that for a number of years now, because its strategy, culture has been stronger and more affirmed than many others, and also because there is the Gaullist vision that France and now Europe should make up their own mind, should be independent, should be able to act by themselves, whether the US wants to act or not. And France has been saying for a long long time, for decades actually, now that it was friends with the U.S. but not aligned with the U.S., and that means, in concrete terms, being able to act by itself, that Europe should be able to act by itself, to defend by itself," said Vaisse.

Climate issues, AI top agenda between Xi-Macron talks: NGO founder

China's cement industry is accelerating its transformation to digitalization and green manufacturing, keeping pace with the country's drive to achieve carbon reduction goals.

China released a plan on ultra-low emissions in cement production to reduce pollutant emissions in January this year. The plan requires half of cement clinker production capacity in the country's key regions for air pollution control to complete ultra-low emission transformation by the end of 2025, and 80 percent of China's overall cement clinker production capacity to finish the transformation the end of 2028.

It marks the ultra-low emission transformation in another traditional industry after coal-fired power plants and the steel industry in China.

"As of 2023, 274 cement factories and 125 cement mines had been listed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as green manufacturers. In the future, cement enterprises will build more green factories and apply more green mining approaches to contribute to the green and low-carbon development of the cement industry." said Kong Xiangzhong, executive president of the China Cement Association.

China's cement production totalled 2.023 billion tons in 2023, ranking first in the world for 38 consecutive years, according to insiders at the World Cement Association Annual Conference 2024 that opened in Nanjing of east China on Saturday.

China's cement output accounted for more than 50 percent of global cement production and the cement sector discharged over 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 2023.

China's cement industry accelerates digital, green transformation