Sarkozy and Hu bury hatchet in Beijing talks

BEIJING – France and China yesterday pledged to draw a line under past tensions over Tibet and breathe new life into their relationship by working together on issues from global monetary policy to Iran.

President Nicolas Sarkozy and his host Hu Jintao made the comments following talks in Beijing that signalled they had moved past the Tibet row, which peaked when Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, in 2008.’President Sarkozy’s visit to China has opened a new page in Sino-French relations,’ Hu said in a joint media appearance with the French leader.The French leader, making his second state visit to China, told journalists the pair had held ‘in-depth discussions about the Iranian crisis and the G20’ and also said the two sides would work together on global monetary reform.The West has sought Chinese support for tough action on Tehran over its nuclear programme, which some suspect is a cover to develop atomic weapons, and the issue had been expected to be high on Sarkozy’s agenda.Beijing has been reluctant to punish Iran, a major trading partner and source of oil, but US Vice President Joe Biden said last week China would back new sanctions, predicting they could be agreed within days.Sarkozy pledged France would work with China – which has sought greater say for developing countries in world financial affairs – for a new multi-polar system when it assumes the rotating leadership of the G20 from November.He refrained from adding to pressure on China over the value of its currency, which critics including the United States say is kept artificially low to boost Chinese exports at the expense of those from other countries.’France’s belief is that it is totally unproductive to make accusations against one another. It is far more intelligent to prepare the necessary evolution of the monetary system in the 21st century,’ he said.’We are going to think and work together.’Relations nose-dived in March 2008, just four months after Sarkozy’s first state trip to China, when he expressed shock at the security crackdown in the Chinese-ruled region after protests there led to deadly violence.Hu is scheduled to make a state visit to France later this year. – Nampa-AFP

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