For more than five years, under the guidance of the golden principle of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by President Xi Jinping has been in action, becoming increasingly welcomed around the world. More than 150 countries and international organizations have signed cooperation agreements with China under the BRI’s general framework.

The past five years have also seen China’s trade in goods with Belt and Road countries rising above $5 trillion, and foreign direct investment exceeding $60 billion, which have created more than 200,000 local jobs. China-Europe block trains have so far made over 13,000 journeys, and 49 cities in 15 countries have benefited from the facilities in delivering their products directly to 56 cities in China.

France, as a major economy and at the core of the EU, has been ahead of other Western countries for a long time in developing relations with China. The BRI has provided a new and broader platform for this development, leading to increasing political trust, economic cooperation and cultural exchanges. This, in turn, has invigorated the close and enduring comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

The political trust between China and France enhanced by the two countries’ Belt and Road cooperation was made manifest when President Xi Jinping, on visiting France in 2014 for the first time, went to Lyon first, one of the destinations of the ancient Silk Road in Europe, and when President Emmanuel Macron, on his first visit to China in 2018, stopped first at Xi'an, the starting point of the same road. The two state leaders have now reached an important consensus on Belt and Road cooperation. In June 2018, the Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defense and the Armed Forces of the French Senate issued an assessment report on the BRI and proposed that France be more actively involved in it and play a leading role in Europe.

Along with further cooperation and economic integration of China and France, trade volume between the two countries exceeded $60 billion last year, hitting a record high. With France being a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and Lyon and Dourges in France directly linked to Wuhan city in China via the China-Europe block trains, the two countries' financial services have made positive progress. The triple-currency climate bonds issued by Bank of China in Paris have been successfully listed on the Euronext Paris, becoming the first Chinese green bond to do so. BNP Paribas has acquired the licence to underwrite "panda bonds" in China, thus becoming the third foreign bank to receive this qualification.

In the meantime, the BRI cooperation has also increased cultural exchanges between China and France. Former French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, as one of the 12 members, attended the first meeting of the Advisory Council of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in Beijing last December. In the past year, the Asia-Europe Solar Bike Rally jointly held by China and France ended as a complete success, in which 50 cyclists rode all the way from Lyon to Guangzhou, covering 12,000 kilometers across 10 countries.

At the second session of the Paris Forum themed on the new Silk Road jointly hosted in January this year by the Chinese Embassy in France and the French Institute for International and Strategic Affair, I personally felt the French side’s understanding and enthusiasm about participating in the BRI. As shown by a poll conducted by the Montaigne Institute in France last September, 53 percent of the French people believe that the program will have a positive impact on France.

This year is full of opportunities for China-France cooperation under the BRI.

First, the implementation of the BRI has entered a new phase, arriving at a down-to-earth and sustainable development that began from foundation building and structure making. In April this year, China will hold the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. It is China's most important diplomatic event this year, and will take the development of the Belt and Road to a higher quality and better standards. China welcomes a high-level delegation of the French side to participate in this event, share with China historical opportunities and discuss cooperation plans so that the two can usher in a brilliant new phase in BRI construction.

Second, China's move to a higher level of opening-up has provided a new impetus for cooperation with France in the Belt and Road program. On the one hand, China will continue to cut the negative list and give wider market access for foreign firms. On the other, it will increase the investment introduction, promote development of the pilot Free Trade Zones, and produce more results of institutional innovation.

Third, the opening of a new situation in China-France relations has created more favorable conditions for Belt and Road cooperation. Since this year marks the 55th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic relations, the two sides will hold a series of grand celebrations.

Both countries should make full use of the good atmosphere in their bilateral relations, strengthen top-level design, actively plan and guide, and push forward cooperation. China is also willing to work with France to promote traditional strategic cooperation in nuclear energy, aviation and aerospace, as well as in such emerging fields as digitalization, medicine and health, green development and artificial intelligence, and in jointly opening third-party markets.

There are more than ever uncertainties and unstable factors in the world, and China-French BRI cooperation faces multiple challenges: economic globalization is encountering protectionism, and some countries chose to increase tariffs, investment, and technical barriers in response to imbalances in globalization; multilateralism was challenged by populism, and the influence of extremist forces continues to expand, thus responding to external competition with contradictions and self-imposed isolation.

In this sense, it is the common mission of China and France, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, to work together in promoting economic globalization and maintaining a multilateral international order.

General De Gaulle once said, France would not be called France if it were not great. And President Xi Jinping said, China just should be ambitious as for such a big country. The pursuit of greatness is the common trait of the two nations, as well as the innate driving force for developing China-France relations beyond time, space, and differences in systems and civilizations. By jointly promoting the Belt and Road, both will further advance their bilateral relations, and thus contribute to humanity’s common quest for a path to prosperity and civilization.

Zhai Jun is ambassador of People’s Republic of China to France.

The author contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.

All rights reserved. Copying or sharing of any content for other than personal use is prohibited without prior written permission.