Opinion | In France, China sees a civilisational partner in a polarised world
As Paris pursues strategic autonomy and Beijing seeks national rejuvenation, both powers are poised to reimagine a new global order
Constructed around 256 BC, Dujiangyan is the world’s oldest irrigation system that is still in use today. Long before the invention of gunpowder, the system was using natural topographic and hydrological features to divert water from the Min River for irrigation and flood control without the use of dams.
To this day, the ecological engineering feat irrigates 668,700 hectares of farmland in the Chengdu plains of southwestern China.
It was in the tranquil, lush mountains surrounding Dujiangyan that Chinese President Xi Jinping chose to conclude French President Emmanuel Macron’s three-day state
visit to China. The choice of location was intentional and highly symbolic: the engineering feat reflects the resilience and pioneering spirit of Chinese civilisation.
Like the flow of water from ancient times, Chinese civilisation is the world’s only uninterrupted great civilisation that continues to this day as a state and is uniquely characterised by its continuity, creativity and unity.
The French nation also has a glorious culture and a long history. China sees France as an emblem of Western civilisation, and the sense of being heirs to great civilisations is a source of mutual respect that undergirds Sino-French relations.
China has always appreciated and valued France for being the first major Western power to establish full diplomatic ties and ambassador-level exchanges with Beijing following French recognition of the People’s Republic in 1964. Shunning bipolar binaries, China and France should forge their relationship with civilisational confidence and continue to position their bilateral relationship as distinct from geopolitical alignments.