Macron's Chengdu visit further deepens China-France ties

French President Emmanuel Macron wrapped up his three-day state visit to China on Friday with a series of activities in the city of Chengdu, the capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, blending diplomacy with rich cultural experiences and further deepening China-France ties.

After holding talks with senior Chinese leaders in Beijing, Macron and his wife Brigitte arrived in Chengdu on Thursday evening.

The city holds historic significance in bilateral ties between China and France. In 1981, Chengdu and the French city of Montpellier established a friendship city relationship, becoming the first pair of sister cities between the two sides.

Macron began his official agenda on Friday morning alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping with a visit to the site of the ancient Dujiangyan Irrigation System, a more than 2,000-year-old major water conservancy project which has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The two presidents' informal meeting at this ancient engineering marvel underscored a shared commitment to ecological sustainability.

The afternoon focused on youth engagement and people-to-people exchanges. At Sichuan University, Macron delivered a speech and engaged with Chinese students on global issues and the future of bilateral cooperation.

Later, at the Sichuan Provincial Gymnasium, Macron visited French athletes competing in the International Table Mixed Team World Cup. The president even picked up a paddle for a short rally with players from both the French and Chinese national teams.

Meanwhile, Brigitte Macron embarked on a visit to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding where she caught up with an old furry friend "Yuan Meng," the first ever panda born in France.

The French first lady had helped name the cub following its birth at the Beauval Zoo in 2017 and later became its godmother, while she also accompanied the panda to the airport prior to its return to China two years ago.

The Macrons departed Chengdu on Friday evening, concluding a fruitful trip to China which was the French president's fourth state visit to the country. It was a reciprocal visit following President Xi's historic trip to France last year that marked the 60th anniversary of China-France diplomatic relations.

Xi and Macron held formal talks on Thursday in Beijing, witnessed the signing of multiple cooperation documents, met the press and attended and addressed the closing ceremony of the seventh meeting of China-France Business Council.

Macron's Chengdu visit further deepens China-France ties

Former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin on Friday called on China and France to jointly promote multilateralism and cooperation.

Raffarin is currently in the Chengdu City of southwest China's Sichuan Province, the second stop of French President Emmanuel Macron's state visit to China from Wednesday to Friday.

Macron's visit is a significant opportunity for the two major powers to rebalance bilateral trade ties, and also a chance for them to redefine a vision for global governance, Raffarin told China Global Television Network (CGTN).

Noting that China and France are both peace-loving countries, Raffarin said they must work together to contribute to world peace and promote multilateralism. "France and China are peace-loving nations. The Chinese people have never waged a war outside their borders -- they have fought only when attacked. China can speak for peace, and so can France, which managed to make peace with Germany despite the many tragedies that occurred during three wars. We are peaceful peoples, and therefore we must contribute together to world peace," said Raffarin.

"Both China and France support a multilateral global governance system. We want to reform multilateralism because today's rules are still those of 1945. It has been a long time since the UN and other international institutions were created. They must be reformed and modernized, while preserving the ambition of multilateralism to uphold world peace. From this perspective, Sino-French cooperation is in the interest of both countries -- and also in the interest of the world and of global peace," he added.

Raffarin said he expects more cooperation between China and Europe, and called for China's support in ending the Ukraine crisis.

"We clearly need to make progress in China-Europe cooperation. We must also make commercial progress by increasing cooperation between our industries -- including more Chinese components in European products, and more European components in Chinese products. We have progress to make, but the path has been set by the two heads of state. A new path has been opened for more balanced development. And of course, what is very important is that a war is now being fought in Europe -- in Ukraine. We need China's peaceful engagement to help the world find a way toward peace, in this conflict as well as many others. Peace is at the heart of our commitments -- it is China's commitment, and it is also France's," said Raffarin.

Former French PM urges China, France to jointly promote multilateralism, cooperation