French business leaders vow closer cooperation with China

Business leaders of French companies have pledged to deepen cooperation with China at the seventh China-France Business Council meeting which was held in Beijing on Thursday.

At the meeting, more than 150 attendees from China and France had discussions on three major themes of new models for green and low-carbon cooperative development, new trends in industrial transformation and consumption changes, and new opportunities for cross‑border investment in innovation. Most expressed firm confidence in, and a strong desire to deepen, bilateral cooperation.

"For French companies, like our company, it's a good opportunity to strengthen our collaboration and to further develop if any opportunities come. So, we are quite glad that our French president has come to China again and further explore any research or technological or educational partnership," said Adnan Ezzarhouni, general manager of GTT China, a part of GTT Group, a French multinational naval engineering company.

"The potential for cooperation is very high. What we need together is stability, is to build a real partnership. Because in a world which is more and more complicated, we need to find true friends and to build true partnership and that's clearly what we want to do with China. We are here to stay, we are here to work, we are here to recruit, we are here to invest. That's clearly what we did for the last 20, 40, 50 years. And that's what we want to do for the future," said Marc-Antoine Jamet, secretary general of LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods group headquartered in France.

The meeting was co-hosted by Chinese Ministry of Commerce and French Ministry for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty. The two ministries signed a memorandum on boosting two-way investment between China and France, as both agreed to support and encourage enterprises from both countries to increase two-way investment and provide a fair, just, non-discriminatory, and predictable business environment for enterprises from the other side.

French business leaders vow closer cooperation with China

French business leaders vow closer cooperation with China

China and Russia have agreed to resolutely safeguard the outcomes of the victory of World War II, safeguard world peace and security, and uphold historical truth and international justice, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press conference in Beijing on Friday.

In response to a related media query, Lin briefed the press on the outcomes of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Russia and the 20th round of China-Russia strategic security consultation earlier this week.

"This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War. The two heads of state attended commemorations in each other's country, and agreed to firmly safeguard the outcomes of the victory of World War II and resolutely oppose any retrogressive acts attempting to whitewash colonial aggression, sending a powerful message for upholding justice and fairness in the current era," Lin noted.

"During the recent China-Russia strategic security consultation, the two sides conducted strategic alignment on issues related to Japan, reaching a high degree of consensus. Both sides agreed to resolutely safeguard the outcomes of the victory of World War II won at the cost of lives and blood, firmly oppose any erroneous words and deeds that attempt to whitewash the history of colonial aggression, and resolutely counter any attempts to revive fascism or Japanese militarism. Both sides stressed that China and Russia, as major countries and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, will shoulder their shared responsibility to safeguard world peace and security, and uphold historical truth and international justice," said the spokesman.

"We stand ready to continue coordinating and cooperating with Russia to resolutely curb the provocative acts of Japan's far-right forces that undermine regional peace and stability and attempt to remilitarize," Lin said.

China, Russia agree to resolutely safeguard outcomes of World War II victory: spokesman