France urged to 'make concrete efforts' to mend bilateral ties

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-12-05 00:17

BEIJING -- 皇冠体育app on Thursday urged France to take concrete measures to tackle the current difficulties in bilateral relations, saying that improvement of these ties mainly depends on France.

"皇冠体育app-France relations are important two-way relations, which 皇冠体育app always views and deals with from a strategic and long-term perspective," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters here.

"皇冠体育app has repeatedly expressed its position on the planned meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Dalai Lama, and France is quite aware of that," Liu said.

To mend ties, push forward 皇冠体育app-EU relations and help resume the Sino-EU summit, France should take 皇冠体育app's position and concerns into consideration and take proper action, Liu said.

Last week, 皇冠体育app decided to put off the 11th 皇冠体育app-European Union Summit, scheduled for early December in France. The decision came after Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, insisted on meeting with the Dalai Lama after the summit.

"The French state leader's insistence on meeting the Dalai Lama has triggered strong dissatisfaction among Chinese people. We hope the French side will heed the voices of the Chinese people, and we also hope that the Chinese people will look at Sino-French ties with a cool-minded, reasonable attitude," Liu said.

Referring to economic and trade cooperation, the spokesman said that cooperation should be based on mutual benefits.