In November 2017, a Belt and Road Initiative study tour to China was organised by the Chinese Embassy in France. It gathered a delegation of 10 French personalities, which included Joel Ruet, President of The Bridge Tank, political decision makers, journalists and former general officers of the armed forces.

This delegation, led by former French deputy secretary-general of the President and former Minister Frédéric de Saint-Sernin and organised in partnership with General Eric de la Maisonneuve (Ret.), notably included General Jean-Bernard Pinatel (Ret.), Alain Frachon, journalist for Le Monde, Damien Cesselin, director of the drafting group of the French Parliament, and Emmanuel Hache, researcher at IFPEN. The delegation spent a week in China and visited four cities: Beijing, Xi’an, Xiamen and Shanghai. The tour allowed for discussions with members of official institutes specialised in different subjects: from the leading Chinese Foreign Studies Institute (the China Institute of International Studies) to the National Development and Reform Commission, ranging through diverse financial organisations in charge of funding and promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, like the new Silk Road Fund, the AIIB, or the top executive team of the Bank of China.

The delegation was welcomed in Beijing by the head of the Chinese Foreign Affairs’ Europe Department, in Xi’an and the Shaanxi province by provincial authorities, in Xiamen by the Vice Mayor, and in Shanghai by the municipality.

The delegation exchanged with officials about the integration of the Belt and Road Initiative to the global economy, the position of Chinese financial institutions in Africa, as well as on financial and industrial relations between French and Chinese economic sectors. Visits included some on site learning, notably in Xiamen’s automated harbor, and in Xi’an’s railway interconnecting platforms. Xiamen is one of the top three historical special economic zones of China.

Pictures from the study tour