France is pursuing an independent policy regarding its relations with China, as well as on global issues, said Sylvie Bermann, former French Ambassador to China.
Bermann made the statement in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Saturday, sharing her views on the two countries' diplomatic relations ahead of the upcoming state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to France. "It's a very important visit, of course. It's the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, and we have also a global strategic partnership." she said.
Bermann, who served as French ambassador to China from 2011 until 2014, also recalled her experience of accompanying President Xi for a state visit to France in 2014, which marked the 50th anniversary of bilateral relations between China and France.
"That was exactly ten years ago. I was preparing the 50th anniversary of our relationship, and I had the opportunity to accompany President Xi when he came to Lyon and Paris-that was a very important visit. And since we are an influential member of the European Union (EU), of course, it's important to discuss also with China. Since again, China is a permanent member of the Security Council, is a very influential country in the world, it can play a diplomatic role, and that's what we expect from China," she said.
She also expressed some of her expectations on France's relationship with China, and also China's relations with other EU member states.
"We want to have our own policy, [and] not necessarily follow the Americans. It's their own preoccupation. It's not necessarily the concern of the EU. So we absolutely want to have an independent policy regarding our relationship with China. And in particular, on those global issues where, of course, the role of China is important. And as I mentioned before, the possible diplomatic role of China in the future is very important. Remember the reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia. So, we think that China can play a very important role in the world, and France is very influential in New York, in the Security Council, and also in the EU," Bermann said.
Xi started his state visit to France on Sunday at the invitation of his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
France pursuing independent policy on relations with China: former French ambassador
The population of wild animals inhabiting along the China-Russia border has experienced a significant growth over the past year, thanks to a series of protection measures jointly implemented by Chinese and Russian conservationists, including setting up passages along the border for animals to migrate freely.
As one of the world's most endangered species, Serbian tigers, also known as Amur tigers, mainly lives in Russian Far East and the northeast region of China, with its main habitat in Hunchun, an area near the border between the two countries.
In recent years, China and Russia strengthened cross-border protection cooperation and jointly carried out monitoring and patrolling of tigers and leopards in Northeast China.
The two countries recently launched cooperation to jointly create animal passages to allow the free movement of tigers and leopards across the China-Russia border.
"We have been working with the border administration and opened 290 crossings for animals in the eastern part of the national park along the China-Russian border. Specifically, we've opened up a gap every few hundreds meters along the wire fence on the border of China and Russia, so that wild animals can cross China-Russia borders through the channels. In this way, the population of wild animals inhabiting on the border can be expanded," said Feng Limin, a professor with College of Life Sciences of Beijing Normal University.
Since the animal passages were opened up two years ago, numerous wild animals have moved freely between China and Russia, a benefit for barrier-free gene exchange and offspring breeding.
"We found that the wild animals used those passages at least 30,000 times over the past year, and at least 20 different Siberian tiger individuals crossed the China-Russia border, which is quite exciting. It plays an important role in the rapid growth of tiger and leopard populations in the border area of China and Russia," said Feng.
In the past five years, China and Russia maintained friendly cooperation in ecological protection, established a number of joint protection and joint monitoring systems, and opened up cross-border animal passages, creating a new cooperation model for the protection of cross-border endangered wildlife and the building of a community for human and natural life.
"Under the joint protection of China and Russia, the populations of Siberian tigers and Amur leopards began to grow, and other species such as sika deers moved freely between the two countries, which has sped up their population recovery and provided a good start and example for China and Russia to strengthen cooperation on ecological protection and carry out corridor construction," said Feng.
China-Russia joint efforts on Siberian tiger, Amur leopard protection bear fruit
