Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan on Monday attended a welcome banquet held by French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
Before the banquet, Xi, Peng and Macron, Brigitte posed for photos.
Xi and Peng also exchanged greetings and had cordial conversations with representatives of French celebrities from all walks of life who were invited to the banquet.
While giving a toast at the banquet, Xi said that China and France are special friends and China-France relations are a special pair of relations among those between major countries in the world.
The specialty of China-France relations lies in independence. Six decades ago, General Charles de Gaulle resolved to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. It was not easy to make this independent decision at the height of the Cold War, Xi said.
Since then, generations of leaders of the two countries have viewed and handled their bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective. The first Western head of state to pay an official visit to the People's Republic of China was the president of France, and the first Western country that the head of the People's Republic of China paid a visit to was also France, he said.
Independence is a strong factor behind every highlight of China-France exchanges, which deserves to be cherished, inherited and carried forward, Xi said.
The specialty lies in mutual understanding. As important representatives of Eastern and Western civilizations, China and France have always admired and attracted each other, Xi said.
Confucius' thoughts deeply influenced French thinkers Voltaire and others, and inspired the French Enlightenment, while during what is known as the Diligent Work-Frugal Study Movement around the 1920s, large numbers of Chinese young people traveled to France for educational sojourns in search of a way out for China through revolution, construction and reform, he said.
This year marks the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism. Xi said he hopes that the two countries will take this opportunity to seek more wisdom and absorb more nutrition from each other's cultures.
The specialty also lies in responsibility. History has proved many times that China and France, working together, can benefit the world, Xi said.
The world today is confronted with complex and intertwined challenges, with the protracted crisis in Ukraine and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, sluggish world economic recovery, and increasingly daunting global challenges such as climate change, he said.
As permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and France have to shoulder greater responsibilities, said Xi, adding that he and President Macron had agreed to stay true to the original aspiration of establishing diplomatic relations, deepen high-level mutual trust and cooperation, strengthen communication and coordination on major international issues, and work together to bring hope to the confused world and explore the direction of human progress.
Xi is on a state visit to France at the invitation of Macron. He will also pay state visits to Serbia and Hungary.
Xi attends welcome banquet held by Macron
