00:00China's President Xi Jinping has held talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Beijing.
00:05Now the meeting followed a welcome ceremony for Macron's fourth state visit to China.
00:10The two leaders also witnessed the signing of agreements on nuclear energy, agriculture and environmental protection.
00:17Laurent Cohen-Tannouji is an international lawyer and writer on geopolitics.
00:23The state visit of a French president to China is always a significant event.
00:28It is particularly significant given the challenging times that the world is experiencing right now.
00:37The war in Ukraine, trade tensions between China and the EU, the China-U.S. rivalry.
00:46So whether the outcome of the visit is significant or will be more significant than the previous one remains to be seen.
00:56But it's definitely a significant event.
00:58Yeah, so much to talk about.
01:00The two leaders also witnessed the signing of numerous agreements.
01:04Which sectors are you most excited about that you believe have the most potential?
01:11Well, I think the sectors most potential are everything that has to do with climates and green energy.
01:19The AI, obviously.
01:23So these are the sectors there where there are common goals between France and China.
01:33There are other sectors where France is quite strong.
01:37Obviously luxury, aeronautics and so on where there are already significant French exports to China.
01:45But these, I think, these are the most promising ones, I would say, climate and AI digital.
01:55China and France will host global economic leadership roles in 2026 in APEC and in the G7 respectively.
02:02So they're both going to be taking on big leadership roles.
02:05How significant is that for their bilateral relations?
02:10Well, it's an opportunity for both countries to try to reduce trade and geopolitical tensions.
02:17I think President Macron would like to invite China to the G7 summit in 2026.
02:26But, I mean, the goal is to try to foster a rule-based international order and multilateralism,
02:32which is, again, under attack by the return to great power politics.
02:38And so really that's the significance of this leadership position, whether they can achieve that or not.
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