France wants to celebrate 60 years of a “special relationship” with China

The Chinese president is traveling to France on Sunday for a two-day state visit. The opportunity to celebrate diplomatic relations which have evolved significantly since the recognition of communist China by General de Gaulle in 1964.

Xi Jinping is expected in France on Sunday May 5 for a state visit which will last two days, Monday and Tuesday. The Chinese president’s last trip to Europe dates back to 2019, just before the Covid pandemic. This year, France and China are celebrating 60 years of their diplomatic relations. France was the first Western country to recognize Mao Zedong’s China. The two countries want to celebrate a “special relationship”.

The announcement was made officially on January 27, 1964, in a simple press release in five lines. A few days later, General de Gaulle received the press at the Élysée. And after an hour of conference, he finally ends up explaining the reasons for this historic turning point. “There is obviously nothing there that implies any sort of approval of the regime that currently dominates China, he declares. By establishing official relations with this country, with this State, France is only recognizing the world as it is.”

A courageous act by General de Gaulle

Claude Martin, former French ambassador to China, who was part of the first team sent to Beijing, recalls a courageous act. “At the United Nations, it was Taiwan that represented China, he recalls. But during that time, there was a country which at the time had approximately 850 million inhabitants, but which was also about to acquire nuclear weapons. By recognizing China, General de Gaulle did not at all intend to strengthen communism in general, on the contrary.”

“In the statements he made at that time, it is clear that he saw China as the old Chinese empire and not at all as a communist power.”

Claude Martin, former French ambassador to China

at franceinfo

60 years later, France records a trade deficit of 50 billion euros in China. A growing gap separates Western democratic values ​​from Xi Jinping. How will France make its voice heard during this state visit ? To weigh on China and also maintain its strategic autonomy vis-à-vis the United States which is crying out for Chinese danger, Emmanuel Macron is once again Europeanizing his interview with Xi Jinping. He invites the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen to Paris on Monday.