Mutual importance of Sino-Franco relations

France was one of the first western powers to recognize the People’s Republic of China as a legitimate country and established an embassy in the country before Great Britain, Germany or the United States. Since 2008, however, France has found itself often at odds with the emerging superpower, especially over its One China policy.

France resisted for many years Chinese pressure to cease the sale of weapons to Taiwan, with the tension ultimately coming to a head with France suspending diplomatic relations with the closure of its Consulate-General. This did not last long though, and in 1994 one of the most powerful countries in Europe agreed to China’s demands and prohibited local companies from trading in arms with Taiwan.

This is primarily due to the immense economic influence China has over France, and vice-versa, indeed in recent weeks alone one can see the highly-developed economic ties between the two countries.

In May 2010, French news media reported that China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines were increasingly keen to team up with Air France KLM and launch a cargo carrying operation that would be a joint venture of the three trans-national airlines.

Also in May, the French news agency AFP reported that French carmaker, Peugeot and the Chinese car maker, Changan Automotive Group, had signed a letter of intent to combine their strengths and produce cars in China’s rapidly growing car sales market.

“The new joint venture will be complimentary to the companies’ existing joint ventures,” said a statement released by both companies.

In the field of cosmetics there has also been expanding ties. L'Occitane, a French cosmetics company, was recently listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange and told French news and Chinese news outlets that it was looking to double the number of stores it had opened in China.

China and France are important to one another’s economies then, with China perhaps more dominate if recent World Bank events are anything to go by. In early 2010 the organization announced that it was elevating China’s voting rights in the organization to a level that is eclipsed only by the US and Japan.

China, in the World Bank is now more influential and powerful than France or Germany, the two major powers in Europe. At the press conference the bank pointed out that China represented the aspirations of many developing countries as just a few decades ago China was not considered the economic giant it is now.

World Bank president, Robert Zoellick, pointed out that developing countries could be the means to pull the world out of the recession, saying they “can become multiple poles of growth” if antiquated concepts like the ‘Third World’ are removed and inter-dependence is recognized.

This is a realization France seems to have in relation to China. The recent events associated with the Shanghai World Expo are a perfect example of this. The expo is to be attended by President Sarkozy of France on a state visit, the highest level of diplomatic interaction.

In an interview with Xinhua, a Chinese news provider, the president was asked about the level of development of French-Chinese relations.

“Comprehensive,” was the president’s response, “because it covers all aspects of our relationship; strategic, because China has become an absolutely essential player on the international stage.”

President Sarkozy added that “There is no more big issue today that we can tackle without China”.

But China needs France as well, France has long been a gateway to the west for many previously shunned countries, as France is arguably one of the most outspoken Western countries when it comes to the foreign policy of the west.

France recently refused to extradite to the US an Iranian engineer accused of smuggling American goods by the US government, and when America invaded Iraq, France intensely condemned it.

China needs the world’s respect as well as its trade and diplomacy. Currently, many countries in the west have expanded their relations with China out of necessity, veiled by suspicion. This needs to change in order for China to properly integrate with other world powers and cease being the unknown it is now.

France may be part of a gateway by which this can be done.