Paris welcomes China's President Xi Jinping with military honors
Reuters
2014-03-26
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STORY: China's President Xi Jinping was welcomed in Paris on Wednesday with military honors as France seeks tighter business links to the world's number-two economy.
Xi arrived in Paris from Lyon on the second day of a three-day tour, with him attending a military ceremony with French President Francois Hollande at the Invalides courtyard where Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte is buried.
Xi's visit marks 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Recognition of the People's Republic of China by France in 1964 - in the face of anti-Communist hostility elsewhere in the west - forms part of France's claim to a special relationship.
Nevertheless, France trails far behind Germany on the trade front, accounting for just 1.2 percent of Chinese imports compared with 4.8 percent.
STORY: China's President Xi Jinping was welcomed in Paris on Wednesday with military honors as France seeks tighter business links to the world's number-two economy.
Xi arrived in Paris from Lyon on the second day of a three-day tour, with him attending a military ceremony with French President Francois Hollande at the Invalides courtyard where Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte is buried.
Xi's visit marks 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Recognition of the People's Republic of China by France in 1964 - in the face of anti-Communist hostility elsewhere in the west - forms part of France's claim to a special relationship.
Nevertheless, France trails far behind Germany on the trade front, accounting for just 1.2 percent of Chinese imports compared with 4.8 percent.
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