China News Service, Beijing, October 11 (Reporter Xie Yanbing) Datong, the thousand-year-old ancient capital, has become the diplomatic meeting room of major powers.
On the 10th, Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the CPC Central Committee, held the 28th China-France Strategic Dialogue with French Presidential Foreign Affairs Advisor Bernard Bonn in Datong.
The location of the conversation received widespread attention. Datong, Shanxi, has a history of more than 2,000 years. It is one of the first batch of historical and cultural cities in China and one of the top ten ancient capitals in China. Historically, Datong was a place where nationalities blended together and was one of the core areas for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
Regarding the choice of Datong for this China-France strategic dialogue, Bonne said that France and China have a profound friendship. The first French president to visit China visited Datong in 1973, leaving a good story in the relations between the two countries.
The protagonist of this story is the then French President Georges Pompidou. At that time, Pompidou's first stop after leaving Beijing was the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, and he praised its gorgeous and exquisite statues. Pompidou is not only the first French president to visit China after the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France in 1964, but also the first sitting head of state from a Western European country to visit China.
According to reports, Pompidou told the Chinese Ambassador to France after returning home that both countries love independence, are determined not to submit to anyone, and are always vigilant. This is the basis of the political relationship between the two countries.
Today, spanning more than half a century, the story of Sino-French friendship continues to be written in Datong.
Chen Fengying, a researcher at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, believes that the choice of Datong to hold this Sino-French strategic dialogue is itself a diplomatic language that evokes emotional resonance with cultural heritage and historical memories, thereby enhancing strategic mutual trust between the two countries.
In recent years, China and France have maintained frequent high-level exchanges. From evening talks in Nice, France, to tea talks in Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai, from meetings in the Pine Garden in Guangzhou to talks at the Tourmalai Mountain Pass, to discussing the world at the Nostalgia Pavilion in Dujiangyan, the unique interactions between the heads of state of China and France in places "outside the capital" have become a characteristic arrangement of exchanges between the two sides.
Chen Fengying believed that the China-France strategic dialogue held in Datong continued the highlights of Sino-French diplomatic exchanges "beyond the capital" and added a layer of mutual learning between civilizations to the strategic communication between the two sides.
This strategic dialogue also sends a positive signal of close cooperation between the two countries in various fields. Wang Yi said that China is willing to maintain high-level exchanges with France, continue to expand and strengthen cooperation in traditional fields such as aerospace and nuclear energy, expand cooperation in emerging fields such as advanced manufacturing, green and low-carbon, and artificial intelligence, and deepen exchanges in education, culture, youth, sports, and local areas.
In Datong, the two sides had long-term and in-depth communication on deepening China-France strategic cooperation and reached broad consensus.
Not only Datong, but also some ancient capitals, small cities and even ancient towns have become the living room of Chinese diplomacy in recent years. The foreign ministers of China and Russia held talks in Guilin, China received the foreign ministers of the four ASEAN countries in Nanping at the foot of Wuyi Mountain, the third Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries was held in Tunxi, Anhui, and the foreign ministers of China, Cambodia and Thailand gathered at the bank of Fuxian Lake in Yuxi...
Chen Fengying said that in diplomatic practice, the host chooses a place other than the capital to receive guests, which is a special arrangement of care and conveys intimacy and sincerity that goes beyond stylized diplomacy. The unique features of small towns and ancient capitals can also provide new perspectives for the outside world to deeply perceive Chinese concepts and culture.
From Pompidou's visit to the Yungang Grottoes in 1973 to the launch of the Sino-French strategic dialogue in Datong, more than fifty years have passed, and the story of Sino-French exchanges is continuing to unfold.
