De-risking and market access dominate China-France economic talks
- Decoupling is an illusion but supply chain concerns are real, French economy minister says on visit to Beijing
- Both countries agree to cooperation in a range of areas, including climate change and aerospace development
“First of all, we are totally opposed to the idea of decoupling. Decoupling is an illusion. There is no possibility of having any kind of decoupling between the American, European and Chinese economies,” Le Maire said.
“It is a word that means more sovereignty, more independence to face the risk of a new crisis that might interrupt the good functioning of trade and exchanges.”
He said China remained a key partner but access for foreign investors was an issue.
“We want to get better access and a more balanced access to the Chinese markets,” he added. “We don’t want to face some legislative hurdles or some other barriers to get access to the Chinese market.”
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Le Maire was in the Chinese capital for the China-France High Level Economic and Financial Dialogue.
As part of the talks, the two countries agreed to cooperate in a range of areas, from debt relief for developing countries and climate change, to civilian nuclear energy, aerospace development, as well as agriculture and food safety.
In terms of the digital economy and 5G development, France agreed to “continue the fair and non-discriminatory treatment of licence applications from Chinese companies … including those relating to national security of both countries”.
China and France also committed to greater cooperation in lunar research such as the Chang’e 7 and 8 missions and deep space exploration including the Tianwen 2 Mars project.
On the aviation front, China said it would advance the airworthiness certification of the French-made Falcon 8X business aircraft, as well as the Aneto 1K and Arrano A1 engines.
As joint partners, they will also work together to push forward the construction of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Britain.
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China is keen for Macron to return to the Chinese capital for the Belt and Road Summit in October and while France confirmed that it will send a senior delegation to Beijing, the names of the heads for the delegation have not been decided.
The summit is part of China’s efforts to reconnect with the world after three years of strict Covid controls and as other countries are diversifying away from the world’s second-largest economy.
