BEIJING: France\u2019s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called for a \u201cpowerful Franco-Chinese partnership\u201d amid geopolitical turmoil, as he met Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Thursday for talks on the war in Ukraine and Beijing\u2019s trade row with Europe.
\nChina has said it hopes this week\u2019s visit by Barrot will see the countries deepen cooperation in a world facing \u201cturbulence and transformation.\u201d
\nIt has said the two sides will discuss ways to \u201cjointly resist unilateralism and the resurgence of the law of the jungle\u201d \u2014 a veiled reference to US President Donald Trump, whose return to the White House in January has rocked the international order.
\nParis expects the talks will focus on a resolution to Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine, which Beijing has never condemned, as well as the Middle East conflict and trade tensions between China and the European Union. Barrot met top Chinese diplomat Wang at Beijing\u2019s ornate Diaoyutai guesthouse on Thursday morning.
\nThe two shook hands in front of large French and Chinese flags, then entered a room for closed-door discussions.
\nBarrot kicked off the day with a visit to the Beijing Language and Culture University, where he addressed students, touting the benefits of learning French and strong ties between the two countries.
\n\u201cMore than ever, the current context requires a powerful Franco-Chinese partnership in the service of geopolitical stability, prosperity and the future of our planet,\u201d he told the students. In the afternoon, he will hold a meeting with an as-yet-unnamed senior official.<\/p>\n
Barrot will then head to economic powerhouse Shanghai, where he will on Friday inaugurate a hydrogen production plant built by the Air Liquide group and participate in a Franco-Chinese business forum.
\nBeijing has said it will use the visit \u201cto consolidate political mutual trust.\u201d
\nFrance and China have sought to boost ties in recent years, but Paris has also pressed Beijing on its relations with Moscow, which have strengthened since the invasion of Ukraine.
\nChina says it is a neutral party in the Ukraine conflict.
\nBut China is a close political and economic ally of Russia, and NATO members have branded Beijing a \u201cdecisive enabler\u201d of the war, which it has never condemned.
\nBarrot\u2019s visit to China comes as part of a wider tour of Asia, including stops in Indonesia and Singapore.
\nIn the Southeast Asian city state on Wednesday, he warned the threat of Russian aggression in Europe was \u201cnot theoretical.\u201d
\n\u201cIts aggressivity over the past three years has extended way beyond Ukraine itself,\u201d Barrot told journalists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING: France\u2019s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called for a \u201cpowerful Franco-Chinese partnership\u201d amid geopolitical turmoil, as he met Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Thursday for talks on the war in Ukraine and Beijing\u2019s trade row with Europe. China has said it hopes this week\u2019s visit by Barrot will see the countries deepen cooperation in a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79024,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78996\/revisions\/79024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}