On the evening of December 9, 2020, President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Xi Jinping pointed out that the contemporary world is facing increasing instabilities and uncertainties, which calls for more responsibilities of major countries. The original aspiration of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France is "independence, mutual understanding, foresight, mutual benefit and win-win outcomes". It is an important consensus of the two countries to uphold multilateralism, safeguard the international system with the United Nations at its core and defend the international order underpinned by international law. The two countries should stay true to their original aspiration, adhere to their consensus, keep to the right direction of China-France relations, strengthen exchanges, deepen cooperation, and maintain close communication and coordination on major international and regional issues, so as to push for greater development of the bilateral relations.
Xi Jinping stressed that China has full confidence in its own path, theory, system and culture, and respects the development path independently chosen by the people of other countries. Countries with different social systems are able to respect each other, coexist peacefully and seek common development. China-EU cooperation is gaining more global and strategic significance under the new circumstances. No matter how the international situation changes, China is committed to promoting the healthy and stable development of China-EU relations and hopes that the EU will implement a positive policy towards China. The two sides should make joint efforts to speed up negotiations on the China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, make the China-EU High-level Environment and Climate Dialogue as well as Digital Cooperation Dialogue a success and take China-EU relations to a new level.
Macron said France and China have conducted sound cooperation in the fight against COVID-19, and promoted exchanges and cooperation in various fields in an all-round way. With independence as its traditional foreign policy virtue, France attaches great importance to developing relations with China, and is ready to work with China to deepen the bilateral cooperation as well as cooperation between the EU and China. He hopes the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment will be reached as soon as possible. France appreciates China's important contribution to reaching the Paris Agreement on climate change, as well as its key role in the research and development of COVID-19 vaccines and the debt relief, especially its support for developing countries. France is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China on major global and regional issues such as climate change, public health and cooperation with African countries. He hopes to visit China again in due course.
The two heads of state held discussions on the bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the next stage, reached a number of important consensuses and instructed relevant departments of the two countries to step up implementation in:
1. Welcoming the participation of the leaders of the legislative bodies of the two countries in the upcoming 11th meeting of the regular inter-parliamentary exchange mechanism, which will be held via video conference for the first time.
2. Carrying out more cooperation in such fields as biomedicine, biological breeding, Moon and Mars exploration and satellite research and development.
3. Enhancing cooperation on customs inspection and quarantine through hotlines at border posts and other mechanisms to ensure the stability of supply chains.
4. Speeding up technical consultations on regional management of African swine fever despite the impacts of COVID-19 in order to achieve substantial results on the cooperation agreement as soon as possible.
5. Taking the opportunity of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games and the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games to increase Olympic and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation, so as to strengthen mutual understanding and friendship.
6. Welcoming the upcoming official entry into force of the China-EU Agreement on Geographical Indications at the beginning of 2021 and supporting the introduction of quality and brand-name Chinese and French agri-food products such as tea, wine and cheese into each other's households.
7. Actively participating in the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator Initiative and the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, increasing support for developing countries and ensuring that vaccines are a public good that is effectively accessible and affordable for all people around the world.
8. Jointly upholding multilateralism and tackling climate change, making the Climate Ambition Summit on December 12, 2020 and the One Planet Summit in January 2021 a success, mobilizing the international community to participate more actively in the COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the COP26 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the 7th International Union for Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress, and promoting the aforementioned important international agenda to achieve positive results.
The two sides also exchanged views on the Iranian nuclear issue and Antarctic marine protection.