The Chinese President’s State visit to France from 24 to 26 March 2019 was marked by France’s desire to put Europe and the EU back at the heart of its relationship with China, as demonstrated by the diplomatic innovation of the invitation extended by French President Macron to the German Chancellor and the President of the European Commission.

Ahead of the Chinese President’s arrival, the official programme opened with a bilateral Franco-Chinese Seminar on Global Governance, co-organised by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Centre for Analysis, Planning and Strategy (CAPS) and the Chinese State Council Information Office, and opened by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

On this occasion, The Bridge Tank held discussions with CAPS prior to the seminar, and organised a working meeting with the Information Office and the China International Publishing Group. Our think tank also took part in discussions between the Chinese delegation and the former French Prime Minister and Special Representative of the French President for China, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the Chinese Vice-Minister of Education Du Zhanyuan and Justin Vaïsse, Director of CAPS.

The Bridge Tank and the China International Publishing Group signed a memorandum of understanding on training and the sharing of ideas concerning Franco-Chinese bilateral relations, but also incorporating the European dimension on the basis of cooperation of “networks of excellence or organizations within China and Europe through both parties’ intermediary role,” to “leverage as much as possible their international network”, for the “exchange of ideas”, and “cooperation in holding seminars, high level dialogue”.

In the interests of intellectual independence, it was agreed that our two organisations would jointly fund all activities.

The Chinese delegation gathered the following members:

• Mr Du Zhanyuan, Chinese Vice-Minister of Education
• Ms Chen Shi, Deputy Editor-in-chief of China International Publishing Group
• Mr Xu Bu, President and Editor-in-chief of the Foreign Languages Press
• Mr Xi Feng, Director General of the General Office of the China International Publishing Group
• Mr Jiang Yonggang, Director General of the International Cooperation Department at the China International Publishing Group
• Mr Yu Yunquan, Deputy Director General of the Academy of the Contemporary China and World Studies at the China International Publishing Group
• Mr Xing Yutang, Coordinator and Interpreter of International Cooperation Department of the China Publishing Group.

Xi Jinping’s visit & the Franco-Chinese Forum on Global Governance