Justin Vaïsse on China-France relations and cooperation in global governance

China and France have maintained a cooperative diplomatic relationship for nearly 60 years, where both countries are firm advocates of a multi-polar world and improving global governance. President Macron visited China early this year and engaged in an in-depth conversation with President Xi. During this meeting, both sides repeated their commitment to mutual benefit and common development, vowed to practice true multilateralism and work together to address global challenges.

Justin Vaïsse was a member of President Macron’s entourage during his visit to China. Vaïsseis the founder and director-general of the Paris Peace Forum organization, an independent NGO founded under the impetus of President Macron. Today, we are honored to invite him to discuss China-France relations and global governance.

Q1: Hi Dr. Vaïsse, it’s a great honor to have you here today. Since China and France have had diplomatic relations for nearly 60 years, in your view, what common values do the two countries share?

Justin Vaïsse: The two countries are attached to a certain vision of international relations, where multilateralism is central, where cooperation is central, where development is central, of what they see as the necessary components of public action, of the role of civil servants and how they see good governance.

Q2: Earlier this year, President Macron paid a visit to China for the first time in his second term of office and after the COVID-19 pandemic. What is the significance of this face-to-face meeting between President Macron and President Xi?

Justin Vaïsse: I think the trip adds special significance, because it came after two or three years of COVID, and the impossibility to have direct personal contact in 2020, 2021, and 2022. It was really important to reestablish personal ties.

Second, there’s been a lot of change. There have been lots of development in international relations, since then, including Ukraine, including all the aftermath of COVID, and I’m thinking of the impact that the COVID crisis and the tightening of monetary policy had on developing countries. China obviously is an important actor in this question of international finance and debt. So I think with at least these two issues, there was a lot on their plate.

Plus, all the bilateral issues, whether on cultural ties, on people-to-people ties that have been pretty much severed, cut during the pandemic. And one of the ideas was to reestablish more frequent links, more frequent flights between France and China.

Q3: Thank you. Another issue that China and France care greatly about is the environment. From this visit, how do you think the two countries can cooperate better in improving the environment?

Justin Vaïsse: President Macron was accompanied by a number of companies, including very advanced, very innovative startups in the green tech sector. That’s certainly an area where France and China can join forces with their combined capacity, for innovation and technology.

I remember speaking with several members of the delegation from the private sector, and everything related to energy and greening the energy sources that we use, but also cleaning pollution and other issues were very high on their agenda. Of course, there are different economic domains that are concerned by this cooperation, but I would really point out the green transition one, because that’s an area of real strong cooperation between two countries.

Q4: Thank you very much. So the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact recently was held in Paris, and Chinese Premier Li Qiang also attended. Was Premier Li’s attendance an example of China-France cooperation?

Justin Vaïsse: One of the aims of the Summit is to try to reform financial institutions so that they would provide for both poverty and climate. And the second goal is, how do we address the rapid debt crisis by mobilizing IMF and World Bank better? These are the issues that would be tackled during the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact. So that was one of the objectives of President Macron’s visit to China, to make sure that China was on board.

Q5: Thank you. You have provided many examples of how China and France have cooperated in tackling global issues. In what other areas of global governance do you expect China’s participation? In which fields do you hope to see more China-France cooperation?

Justin Vaïsse: There is a dedication to the COP system, to the UNFCC system where China is a major actor and is very much expected to play a positive role. I think Ukraine, climate, resolving the debt issues for developing countries in the framework of existing institutions, that’s an area which is very promising for French-China relations, just a year before the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.