China and France are seeking to refresh relations, especially on economic cooperation, as the countries celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations on Monday.

Sino-French relations have always taken a leading role among China's relations with Western countries over the past five decades, Vice-Premier Liu Yandong said during opening remarks at an exhibition in Beijing to celebrate the anniversary.

France established full diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China on Jan 27, 1964.

This leading role is also underscored by both sides' efforts to seek new fields for cooperation, which offer huge potential for future relations, said Cui Hongjian, director of European studies at the China Institute of International Studies.

"Besides traditional cooperation in nuclear energy and airplanes, China and France are eyeing possible cooperation in sectors including bio-sciences, sustainable development and agriculture and food manufacturing," Cui said.

Bilateral trade between China and France rose from $13.4 billion in 2003 to $51 billion in 2012, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

Speaker of the French National Assembly Claude Bartolone, however, said economic ties have lagged behind the "solid" political partnership.

"France must exist economically in China as much as it does politically," he said in Beijing, adding that the trade imbalance is a "major issue" between the economies. France ran an approximate 26 billion euro ($36 billion) trade deficit with China in 2012, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in May.

"However, we will not try to reduce Chinese imports. Instead, we will seek to increase exports to reverse the declining trend," Bartolone added.

"We would like this anniversary to allow talk of the future and to let our Chinese friends understand that France is also a country of civil nuclear energy, of agribusiness, of the pharmaceutical industry," he said.

Ding Chun, a professor of European studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said "Being advanced in many high technologies, France can offer experience on development to China."

At the same time, China's new round of reform and opening-up and the strategy to boost domestic demand will create a lot of opportunities. European countries including France, Germany and Britain are all hoping to benefit, said Cui of the CIIS.

Pu Zhendong and AFP contributed to this story.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/28/2014 page11)