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'Misunderstandings' with China are bygones: French PM
Beijing (AFP) Dec 22, 2009 French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Tuesday that any "misunderstandings" between Paris and Beijing were a thing of the past, as he wrapped up an official visit to China. Fillon told students at Beihang University in the Chinese capital that both sides now wanted to move forward on the basis of "mutual respect," after a row last year over Tibet. "It's true that there have been misunderstandings in Sino-French relations," Fillon said. "I think they were nothing but misunderstandings. We've worked to clear them up and we want to build our relations on mutual respect," he added, without elaborating on the nature of the spat. Fillon -- who noted that his trip was aimed at "speeding up relations" -- later met China's President Hu Jintao and parliamentary speaker Wu Bangguo to wrap up the formal meetings of his trip, which began Sunday. Hu congratulated the French prime minister on the "positive results" achieved during the visit. Fillon replied that bilateral relations had "made advances very quickly," lauding their "deep and enduring" cooperation. Ties between the two nations deteriorated last year when pro-Tibet protesters disrupted the Paris leg of China's around-the-world Olympic torch relay. They hit a low point in December 2008 when French President Nicolas Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, whom Beijing accuses of seeking independence for the Himalayan region -- a claim the monk denies. Four months later, though, the two countries were officially reconciled on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in London, and Sarkozy subsequently invited Hu to visit France. Fillon said Tuesday the strengthening of bilateral ties would be highlighted by "two very important events": Sarkozy's trip to China next year for the opening of World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, and Hu's planned visit to France. Fillon will leave China later Tuesday with 6.3 billion euros (nine billion dollars) worth of contracts signed, including a major aviation deal, a source close to the talks said. French aerospace and defence industries group Safran and US conglomerate General Electric won a multibillion-dollar contract to equip China's future C919 passenger jet with engines, Safran chief executive Jean-Paul Herteman said. The C919 -- built by state-linked Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) and due to be ready for service in about 2016, according to state media -- is seen as a future competitor to the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737. The deal could possibly be worth 15 billion dollars over 30 years, Herteman told reporters. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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