NNA -nbsp;Francersquo;s top diplomat Catherine Colonna met Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Friday, beginning a short visit focused on the Israel-Hamas war as well as deepening academic and cultural exchanges between the two countries
Paris has said that the conflict in the Middle East will be high on the agenda for Colonna and her Chinese counterparts.
ldquo;China is an actor with growing weight in the regionrdquo; due to its ldquo;strong relationshiprdquo; with Iran, a French diplomatic source said this week.
ldquo;The first thing we expect from China in this conflict is to join its efforts with ours to ensure that we avoid any regional escalation,rdquo; they added.
Received Friday morning by Premier Li under the chandeliers of the Peoplersquo;s Palace in the heart of Beijing, Colonna said China and France shared ldquo;global responsibilitiesrdquo; as permanent members of the Security Council.
The two must ldquo;strive to find answers to major challenges, in particular the challenges of climate, biodiversity and anything that can ease tensions in the worldrdquo;, she said.
Li, in turn, noted a ldquo;positive trend of Sino-French co-operation on all frontsrdquo;.
ldquo;This close cooperation between China and France has also injected a lot of positive energy and provided more certainty to the uncertain world today,rdquo; he added.
Colonna, along with counterpart Wang Yi, will also restart a high-level China-France dialogue on other areas of cooperation at Peking University on Friday afternoon. — AFP
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