An optimistic look at 60 years of Sino-French relations

Xinhua

China and France will celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties on January 27.

After finishing a neat 60-year cycle in the traditional Chinese designation of years, people would typically greet someone at 60 as having accomplished the year of huajia. However, even this meaning could not fully convey the significance of the exchanges between the two countries.

In actuality, recorded communications between the Dragon and the Gaulish ancestors began in the 16th and 17th centuries, initially via French missionaries.

The Salon Chinois (Chinese saloon) at Victor Hugo's mansions at Place des Vosges and Pierre Lotti's residence at Ville de Rochefort are examples of the China mania that followed in France.

During the early 1900s, France served as sort of birthplace for Chinese revolutionaries, with a large number of Chinese, including Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, traveling to the Paris Commune's birthplace to find inspiration for their own self-emancipation.

The victory of the Chinese revolution also brought about a change in the object of appreciation. In the 1950s, a large number of well-known French intellectuals traveled to China following the People's Republic of China's establishment in 1949. Among them were prominent existentialism proponent and Marxist Jean-Paul Sartre, as well as his longstanding companion Simone de Beauvoir, who traveled in China for 45 days in 1955. They also had the opportunity to watch the Tian'anmen Square National Day parade.

The notion that strong, stable, and amicable Sino-French relations would be advantageous for mutual development had been hammered home at the time in France by public opinion, intellectuals, and politicians.

In 1961, François Mitterrand, the head of the Socialist Party and President of France from 1981 to 1995, traveled to China and met Chairman Mao Zedong. In "La Chine au défi," a book he wrote and released the year following his journey to China, Mitterrand expressed his admiration for the Chinese revolution.

Unbeknownst to Mitterrand, in 1963, Edgar Faure, the former French prime minister and envoy of French President Charles de Gaulle, also traveled to China with the goal of establishing formal diplomatic relations with China, which was accomplished the following year.

As we mark the 60th anniversary of our diplomatic ties, we should remember that one of General Charles de Gaulle's last goals in life was to visit China and meet with Chairman Mao.

Chairman Mao had also asked André Malraux, author of "La Condition humaine" (a novel about the Chinese revolution) and special envoy for de Gaulle, to offer his compliments to "his friend from afar." We should remember that Mao only called a select few Western leaders "friends."

Due to the encouragement of the two great leaders, people from the two countries have become more interested in each other.

This popular craze was brought to a climax in 1973 by an unusual statesman and scholar, Alain Peyrefitte, who published his "La Chine s'est éveillée," famously quoting Napoleon Bonaparte's remark "La Chine est une fois révéillée, le monde tremblera pour elle," or "when China wakes, she will shake the world."

It is also true that Sino-French ties have had their ups and downs. The situation did not greatly improve until the election of President Jacques René Chirac, whose knowledge of China aided in raising mutual relations to new heights. Since the two countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership in 1997, they have reached broad agreement on a wide range of issues ranging from independent diplomacy to global multi-polarity, environmental protection, cultural diversity, and strengthened economic and trade cooperation.

When the Eiffel Tower was draped in red in 2004 to commemorate the Chinese Spring Festival, it represented a new high point in Sino-French ties.

It is worth noting that both China and France opposed the US invasion of Iraq during Chirac's administration. Given the US's inability to obtain UN authorization, the US was forced to commence its invasion of Iraq under the guise of a vial of detergent powder, in what has come down as the biggest debacle in American diplomacy.

The inability of the French mainstream media to portray China fairly and objectively has resulted in two extraordinary developments.

On the one hand, a series of Chinese achievements, particularly those since the reforms and opening-up, have piqued the interest of some French, driving many French youths to opt to study, work, and further their development in China.

Maxime Vivas, author of a series of best-selling books aimed at a realistic portrayal of China's Tibet and Xinjiang regions, became fascinated with China following his first visit in 2008, when he traveled to see his son studying in Beijing.

Another remarkable development is that the anti-China attitude among some French nationals is becoming politicized, primarily as a result of French media conditioning and shaping.

This trend has been notably noticeable since 2012, when China's increasingly vocal yearnings for national rejuvenation and national unification sparked a backlash among those old-school French nationals still busy propagating residual colonialism ideology. Thus, today's popular French beliefs on China may be diametrically opposed, with sinophiles and sinophobia coexisting.

As I frequently observe, there are two Chinas in France: the "China" as portrayed in the media and the real China. Because the two are so drastically opposed, the majority of French people who have not visited China and must rely on the media for information have a highly poor impression of China, owing to the media there.

It is somewhat encouraging to see that the French media is making an effort to portray a true China on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and France, despite its prejudice and limitations imposed by political correctness in its China coverage. To quote the title of a 2021 book, "La Chine sans oeillère – Tout ce que vous avez toujours voulu savoir...," The younger French generation is attempting to see China without a blindfold.

Following his successful visit to China last year, President Emmanuel Macron advocated for strategic autonomy for France and the EU, as well as stronger strategic cooperation between France and China. The fact that Macron visited Beijing three times during his presidency (while only visiting Washington twice) suggests that there is tremendous space for shared diplomatic language between the two countries.

The year 2024 not only celebrates the 60th anniversary of Sino-French diplomatic relations, but also heralds in the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism, as well as the Summer Olympics in Paris. The three events will undoubtedly give mutual connections a boost, propelling Sino-French friendship to new heights.

(The author, a former Wenhui Daily correspondent in Paris, is a distinguished research fellow at China Institute, Fudan University. Wan Lixin translated the article.)