President Hu Jintao accompanies French President Jacques Chirac (R) in reviewing a guard of honor during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Saturday, October 9, 2004.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and French President Jacques Chirac held talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Saturday afternoon, exchanging views on bilateral ties and international and regional issues of common concern.

Shortly after his arrival in Beijing, Chirac and Hu began their formal talks in the Great Hall of the People following a grand welcome ceremony. It was the third visit of Chirac as French President.

Both sides agreed that the important consensus on deepening bilateral relations reached by the two leaders at the beginning of this year is being fulfilled and Sino-French relations manifest new vigor and energy.

The two leaders emphasized that the Sino-French Culture Year is a pioneering undertaking in the history of bilateral cultural exchanges and is expected to exert profound influences on development of bilateral relations.

Both sides also agreed to further promote and deepen bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various fields and lift to a higher level the Sino-French and Sino-European all-around strategic partnership relations.

Sino-French relations have proceeded smoothly over the past several years, and political trust and strategic cooperation have been strengthened, Hu said, noting that the trade cooperation between the two countries has seen new progress, with a drastic growth of bilateral trade volume. He added that the exchanges in other fields have achieved fruitful results and the cooperation in international and multilateral fields has also been effective.

"The Sino-French relations have entered a new stage of comprehensive and fast development," he said.

Hu raised a four-point proposal on promoting Sino-French ties during the talks. He suggested China and France enhance strategic dialogue and cooperation, enhance exchange between state leaders and forge a mechanism of annual meeting between state leaders of the two countries.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (L) shakes hands with French President Jacques Chirac during a welcoming ceremony Hu hosts for Chirac's visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Oct. 9, 2004.

He proposed to strengthen Sino-French economic and trade ties through cooperation in aviation, spaceflight, transportation, nuclear energy, high-tech industry, small and medium-sized enterprises, agriculture and environmental protection.

Hu suggested that the two countries enhance exchange and cooperation in culture, education and science and technology, and explore new ways of cooperation in those areas by summing up experiences of the Chinese Culture Year in France and the French Year in China.

He also suggested that the two countries step up coordination and cooperation in international and regional issues, promoting democracy in international relations and diversity in mode of development.

Chirac said he was glad to visit China again. France and China have advanced their cooperation in an all-round manner and scored encouraging results, he said.

The French Government firmly supports the one-China principle and opposes any move that will lead to intensification of cross-Strait situation or Taiwan independence, Chirac said.

He said he completely agreed to Hu's four-point proposal on developing bilateral all-round strategic partnership relations. He said France is ready to make joint efforts with China for friendly cooperation in various fields.

Following their talks, the two presidents attended the signing ceremony on a batch of cooperative documents.

Chirac brought with him scores of French entrepreneurs to China. China and France inked a batch of cooperative documents, covering prevention and control of contagious diseases, information technology, telecommunications, environmental protection, railways, movies, aviation and banking.

China-France trade value grew 60.9 percent in 2003 from a year ago to 13.4 billion US dollars.

President Hu Jintao (2nd L) and his wife Liu Yongqing (1st L) pose for a photo with French President Jacques Chirac (2nd R) and his wife Bernadette (1st R) during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Saturday, October 9, 2004.

Besides economic issues, Chirac was expected to attend the opening ceremony of the French Culture Year during his China tour.

In the evening in Beijing, Chirac and Chinese President Hu Jintao came to the Zhengyang Gate, a structure of more than 500 year old decorated with red, white and blue lights to represent French national flag, and took photos there to mark his China tour.

Chirac will also tour China's economic hub Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The French President started his five-day China tour from Friday evening at Chengdu, capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province. Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong greeted him and his party at the airport. The two also had a meeting on Saturday in Chengdu, promising to deepen bilateral trade cooperation.

Zeng said Sino-French ties had maintained a good momentum for development with joint efforts of leaders of both nations, and the close political relations effectively promoted bilateral cooperation in such fields as economy and trade, culture, technology and education.

Zeng thanked Chirac's vigorous support for the Year of China held in France in 2003, saying that the Chinese side would also spare no effort to coordinate the French side in running the Year of France in China that is due to officially open on Sunday.

Chirac said he visited Sichuan province as the first French president in response to President Hu Jintao's introduction on western China development strategy made during Hu's visit to France.

Chirac spoke highly of sound French-Chinese cooperation in such spheres as politics, economy and culture, saying that bilateral relations were bound to be further developed.

By People's Daily Online