Xi addresses closing ceremony of 6th meeting of China-France Business Council

Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping attended and addressed the closing ceremony of the sixth meeting of the China-France Business Council in Paris on Monday, calling for joint efforts to usher in a new era of China-France cooperation.

Also attending and addressing the event was French President Emmanuel Macron.

Noting that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of China-France diplomatic relations, Xi said 60 years complete one cycle in the traditional Chinese calender, bridging the past and the future.

Over the past 60 years, China and France have remained devoted friends to each other. The two countries both have always committed to the principles of independence, mutual understanding, strategic vision, and win-win cooperation which underpinned the establishment of the diplomatic relations. It shows how countries with different cultures, systems and development levels can help each other succeed and make progress together, Xi said.

For 60 years, China and France have remained win-win partners to each other. China is the largest trading partner of France outside the EU, and that the two countries' economies are now closely intertwined and have formed a great relationship of coexistence in which each side has become part of the other, Xi said.

Xi stressed China is a typical Eastern civilization, and France is a great representative of Western civilization. The two countries do not have geopolitical conflict, and do not have clashes of fundamental interests. What China and France do have in common is that they both think independently, both are fascinated by each other's splendid cultures, and are engaged in result-oriented cooperation based on many shared interests.

There is no reason for failures in bringing out the best in China-France relations, Xi said, adding that the two countries have both reached a new crossroads in the development of mankind and face global changes unseen in a century.

China is ready to enhance all-round exchanges and cooperation with France, bring the China-France relationship to a new stage and make it even more successful, Xi said.

Looking to the future, China will work with France to enrich the economic and trade dimensions of the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership, Xi said, adding that China always views France as a priority and trustworthy partner of cooperation. China is committed to expanding business relations with France in both width and depth by opening up new areas, creating new models and fostering new growth points.

China will continue to make full use of the "French farm to Chinese dining table" whole-chain rapid coordination mechanism, and bring more cheese, ham, wine and other quality agricultural products from France to the dining tables of Chinese families, Xi said. China has decided to extend visa exemption entry for citizens from 12 countries including France on short-term visits to China until the end of 2025, according to Xi.

Looking to the future, Xi said, China will work with France to deepen China-Europe mutually beneficial cooperation. China and Europe are two major forces in building a multipolar world, two big markets that promote globalization, and two great civilizations that advocate cultural diversity.

The two sides should always define China-Europe relations as a comprehensive strategic partnership, continue to enhance political mutual trust, and jointly oppose attempts to turn business relations into political, ideological or security issues, Xi said.

Xi hopes Europe will work together with China to enhance mutual understanding through dialogue, resolve differences through cooperation, and defuse risks with enhanced mutual trust. The two sides should work to turn China and Europe into each other's key partners for business cooperation, priority partners for cooperation in science and technology, and trustworthy partners for cooperation in industrial and supply chains.

China will, on its own initiative, further open up the service sector including telecommunication and medical services, and open its market wider to create more opportunities for companies of France, other parts of Europe and beyond, Xi said.

Looking to the future, China is ready to join hands with France to tackle global challenges. The world today is facing growing peace deficit, development deficit, security deficit and governance deficit, according to Xi.

Both China and France are independent major countries and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. This means the two countries need to shoulder responsibilities and missions to enhance stability in China-France relations to address uncertainties of the world. China and France need to step up coordination in the U.N. and practice true multilateralism so as to build an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, Xi said.

Xi stressed that China is pursuing high-standard opening up to advance in-depth reform and high-quality development, and moving faster to promote new quality productive forces.

China is considering and taking major steps to further deepen reform across the board, steadily expand institutional opening up, further expand market access, and shorten the negative list for foreign investment. All this will create an even bigger market and present more opportunities for France and other countries, Xi said.

Xi welcomed French entrepreneurs to play an active part in the Chinese modernization process and benefit from China's development opportunities.

Pointing out that the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will open in more than two months, Xi said the Olympic Games is a symbol of solidarity, friendship and mutual learning between civilizations.

Xi called on both countries to stay committed to the goal set by the two countries at the time when the diplomatic ties were forged, boost traditional friendship, and practice the Olympic motto of "Faster, Higher, Stronger—Together."

The two countries should join hands to open up a new era of China-France cooperation and write a new chapter in building a community with a shared future for mankind, said the Chinese president.

Attending the event were more than 200 representatives of the Chinese and French governments, enterprises and all walks of life in society.

France is the first leg of Xi's current three-nation Europe tour, which will also take him to Serbia and Hungary.

Xi addresses closing ceremony of 6th meeting of China-France Business Council

The endangered Tibetan antelopes have started their annual mass migration after the first batch of 47 female Tibetan antelopes passed through the Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve in northwest China's Qinghai Province on May 7.

To protect the rare species that are under top-class state protection, the management team of Hoh Xil in the province's Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture has set up the Wudaoliang protection station along the migration route. As of noon on Sunday, over 700 Tibetan antelopes had been spotted passing through the station.

The Tibetan antelope, known as the "fairies of the plateau", undertakes a migration from May to July each year. Female antelopes from the Sanjiangyuan region of Qinghai, parts of Qiangtang Terrane in Tibet, and the Arjin Mountains in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, would travel to the Zhuonai Lake in Hoh Xil to give birth before returning to their original habitats with their newborns.

"For Tibetan antelopes, we divide them into six species groups according to their geographical distribution. For example, Qinghai and Xinjiang have one group each. For Xizang (Tibet), there are three species groups in the east, central and west of the Qiangtang Terrane. And there is also one group in southern Qiangtang Terrane, which don't migrate," said Lian Xinming, researcher at the Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

With an average altitude of over 4,600 meters, the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve is known as a "no-life zone" due to its thin air and low oxygen levels.

However, it is an important habitat for Tibetan antelopes, which can reach top speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour while running. Lian explained the reasons behind the antelopes' remarkable speed.

"I think one of the reasons why they run so fast is that they've got underfur. The warmth of its underfur is one of the characteristics of its ability to adapt to alpine cold and high altitudes. The diameter of its fur can be as thin as about one-seventh of our human hair on the temples. Secondly, its has been found in physiology that the hemoglobin of Tibetan antelope has a blood oxygen capacity that is more than 30 percent higher than that of other plain animals, which proves that the same number of red blood cells has stronger ability to carry oxygen. That should enable the Tibetan antelope to reach 70 or 80 kilometers per hour in a short time," Lian said.

After years of conservation efforts, the Tibetan antelope population in the Hoh Xil region has increased from less than 20,000 in the late 1980s to currently over 70,000.

Tibetan antelopes on migration journey to Hoh Xil Nature Reserve