A senior Chinese diplomat said on February 16 that China is willing to resume the institutional strategic, financial, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges dialogues with France at an early date.

Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made that remark while co-chairing the 23rd China-France Strategic Dialogue with Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic counselor to French President Emmanuel Macron.

Wang is paying visits to France, Italy, Hungary and Russia, and is expected to deliver a speech at the China session of the upcoming 59th Munich Security Conference.

During the dialogue, the two sides agreed that the healthy and stable development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and France is of special significance.

They also agreed to give full play to the leading role of head-of-state diplomacy, strengthen strategic communication, consolidate political mutual trust, deepen pragmatic cooperation, and jointly tackle global challenges, so as to inject new impetus into China-Europe relations, providing stability to the world.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said that China-France strategic cooperation should play a leading role and lead the trend of development of the times, which meets the need for the development of bilateral ties and reflects the global responsibility of China and France as responsible major countries.

China stands ready to strengthen cooperation in the fields of civil nuclear energy, aviation, aerospace, health, agricultural and food products, tourism, culture, and cooperation in the third-party markets, so as to push for new and greater achievements, Wang said.

China is also willing to jointly plan the next steps of high-level exchanges and the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France next year, Wang noted.

China and France forged diplomatic ties in 1964, making France the first major Western power to recognize the People's Republic of China.

Bonne said that he endorses the vision of the Chinese side for the next stage development of bilateral cooperation, and looks forward to new progress in various areas.

France is willing to actively participate in the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, further intensify coordination with the Chinese side in international affairs, and cooperate with China to achieve common development goals, he added.

Beijing is to consider holding the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation this year to give a new boost to development and prosperity in Asia-Pacific and the wider world.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), aimed at building a trade, investment, and infrastructure network that connects different regions along the ancient trade routes, was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.

The two sides also exchanged in-depth views and reached a broad consensus on issues such as global debt, climate change, biodiversity, food security and the crisis in Ukraine.

Wang welcomed the decision of the French side to lift entry restrictions imposed on tourists from China, which he said is conducive to facilitating personnel flow and cooperation between the two countries.