France, China's strategic partner, never a rival
- Source: Global Times
- [23:19 June 20 2010]
- Comments
Cai Fangbai (right) meeting French President Nicholas Sarkozy. Photo: Courtesy of Cai Fangbai
Editor's Note:
France is a key player in international relations. French leader Charles de Gaulle's doctrine that "France cannot be France without greatness" has been at the heart of French foreign policy for decades.
France was the first Western power to opt for diplomatic ties with the PRC at the ambassadorial level, and yet the growth of the Sino-French relationship ever since has not been entirely smooth.
The following is an interview by Global Times (GT) reporter Xu Yan with Cai Fangbai (Cai), former Chinese ambassador to France (1990-98) and to Switzerland (1987-90), on his inside perspective of France's foreign policies and the Sino- French relationship.
The 74-year-old former ambassador is also president of the China Society for French Affairs Studies, vice chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the 9th National People's Congress, and a member of the Foreign Policy Advisory Group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
GT: You were on diplomatic missions to France for 24 years, and the ambassador to France between 1990 and 1998. Looking back upon those years, what was the most challenging part of your job?
Cai: Chairman Mao Zedong had a famous line of poetry, "On perilous peaks dwells beauty in her infinite variety." I like this line very much.
The toughest part of my diplomatic career came in the early 1990s when France sold six frigates to Taiwan in 1991, and 60 Mirage-2000 fighters in 1992. The Sino-French relationship fell to the lowest point since 1964.
Our clash with the French government over the issue was very complicated and tortuous. The arms sales to Taiwan went on in secret. We got information from French media about the final agreement on the sale of the fighters on November 8, 1992. As the French government knew it had done something wrong, it delayed clarifying the issue to China, hoping that the delay would make China unable to react strongly and promptly. Eventually France admitted the sale, while still trying to justify it. This was certainly unacceptable, and triggered a string of retaliatory measures from China.
It was at the worst times that I gained a better knowledge of China's foreign policy and how to combine firmness with flexibility. A few years later, Sino-French ties returned to normal and eventually reached new heights.
GT: The joint communiqué issued in 1964 was short, with two sentences and 44 Chinese characters. It was described by Western media as a political nuclear bomb. How do you see this groundbreaking diplomatic move after 46 years?
Cai: I went to Paris in April 1964 after three months of diplomatic probation in the Chinese embassy in Switzerland.
The joint communiqué of the Sino-French diplomatic relationship announced on January 27, 1964 had only two sentences: "The Government of the French Republic and the Government of the People's Republic of China have jointly decided to establish diplomatic relations. To this effect, they have agreed to designate ambassadors within three months."
Despite being unprecedentedly brief, the ice-breaking joint communiqué was of strategic importance. It marked the first step that transcended the bipolar world to a multipolar one.
But the negotiation about diplomatic ties did not go smoothly at first. The chief negotiator of France, then Prime Minister Edgar Faure, insisted on two conditions. First, France could not take the initiative in breaking diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Second, France needed to keep its low-ranking consuls in Taiwan. Neither condition was acceptable to China.
To break the impasse of the negotiation, then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai arranged for Faure and his wife to travel to Inner Mongolia and the Yungang Grotto in Shanxi Province. That gave both sides time and space to think it over. Three days later when Faure came back to Beijing, a deal called "the three-point tacit agreement" was soon reached. Among the three points was one that recognized the PRC as the sole legitimate government representing the whole of China.
