Insights from Former French Ambassador on China’s President Xi’s visit

Former French Ambassador to China Sylvie Bermann spoke to CGTN Europe on China-France relations.

Transcript

00:00I witnessed it when I was in China.

00:03At the beginning, it was absolutely terrible because the air was problematic.

00:09And China did a lot of things about that.

00:12I was in China a month ago and the sky was blue again, like in my youth when I was a

00:20student there.

00:21So I think it's important to cooperate during the COPs, the UN COPs, and the role played

00:30by China, of course, is important.

00:33And also on biodiversity, where China has been very, very helpful.

00:40So I think, well, green economy is one of our priorities in the world, not only in the

00:48EU or in China.

00:50So it's very important to cooperate on that issue.

00:54The bilateral relationship between China and France has a lot to do with the bigger frame,

00:59has a lot to do with the China and European Union relationship.

01:03What role is France playing in terms of building better ties between China and the EU?

01:10Well, you know, there's the problem of the relationship between the US and China, which

01:19is not very good, of course, and in particular on technological products.

01:27And so we want to have our own policy, not necessarily follow the Americans.

01:35It's their own preoccupation.

01:38It's not necessarily the concern of the EU.

01:43So we absolutely want to have an independent policy regarding our relationship with China.

01:51And so this is what has been called de-risking on the part of the EU, which is different

01:59from the decoupling, which is very, very American.

02:04And we think we should stress the cooperation issue, and in particular on those global issues

02:11where, well, of course, the role of China is important.

02:14And as I mentioned before, the possible diplomatic role also of China in the future is very important.

02:23And remember the reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

02:28So we think that China can play a very important role in the world.

02:32And France is very influential in New York, in the Security Council, and also in the EU.