Expert: Sino-French relations could boost Asian-European cooperation

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French President Emmanuel Macron's first state visit to China could open a new chapter in the Sino-French relationship, especially in terms of trade.

Trade and investment between China and France have grown rapidly in the past 54 years since the two established diplomatic ties in 1964. Bilateral investments cover a wide range of sectors including energy, automobile, aviation and medicine.

French President Emmanuel Macron. /VCG Photo

Macron is a strong advocate of globalization and free trade. Wang Jianhui, general manager of the R&D Department at Capital Securities predicts that Macron will make economic and business cooperation a focal point of his three-day visit.

China is France's second largest trade partner while France is China's eighth largest trade partner on a global scale. But Sino-French trade has not reached a satisfactory level, Wang said.

“It’s not only lagging behind Germany, but also behind the UK. So the basic situation should be changed [after Macron’s visit]. And rising Sino-French trade and investment to a new level could help the French economy, increasing its current growth rate from two percent to three percent,” Wang explained.

VCG Photo

In Wang’s opinion, improving the Sino-French relationship will help Asian-European cooperation. “France is one of the largest economies in the EU, while China is the largest economy in Asia. So improving the bilateral relationship itself is a major step towards improving Asian-European cooperation,” Wang noted.

Meanwhile, Wang expected France to provide more creative ideas to “combine Asian regional integration into the European integration. That would be a great step towards the world free trade and globalization.”

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