Former French Ambassador to China Sylvie Bermann spoke to CGTN Europe on China-France relations.
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00:00I witnessed it when I was in China.
00:03At the beginning, it was absolutely terrible because the air was problematic.
00:09And China did a lot of things about that.
00:12I was in China a month ago and the sky was blue again, like in my youth when I was a
00:20student there.
00:21So I think it's important to cooperate during the COPs, the UN COPs, and the role played
00:30by China, of course, is important.
00:33And also on biodiversity, where China has been very, very helpful.
00:40So I think, well, green economy is one of our priorities in the world, not only in the
00:48EU or in China.
00:50So it's very important to cooperate on that issue.
00:54The bilateral relationship between China and France has a lot to do with the bigger frame,
00:59has a lot to do with the China and European Union relationship.
01:03What role is France playing in terms of building better ties between China and the EU?
01:10Well, you know, there's the problem of the relationship between the US and China, which
01:19is not very good, of course, and in particular on technological products.
01:27And so we want to have our own policy, not necessarily follow the Americans.
01:35It's their own preoccupation.
01:38It's not necessarily the concern of the EU.
01:43So we absolutely want to have an independent policy regarding our relationship with China.
01:51And so this is what has been called de-risking on the part of the EU, which is different
01:59from the decoupling, which is very, very American.
02:04And we think we should stress the cooperation issue, and in particular on those global issues
02:11where, well, of course, the role of China is important.
02:14And as I mentioned before, the possible diplomatic role also of China in the future is very important.
02:23And remember the reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
02:28So we think that China can play a very important role in the world.
02:32And France is very influential in New York, in the Security Council, and also in the EU.