Chinese President wants more French Investment in China

[Flagg]

CHINESE PRESIDENT WANTS MORE FRENCH INVESTMENT IN CHINA
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PARIS, Jan 28 (AFP) - China is ready to further open its vast market to French companies, Chinese President Hu Jintao told business leaders in Paris on Wednesday, a French trade minister attending the meeting said.
France's junior trade minister, Francois Loos, said after Hu met the heads of some of France's biggest companies that the Chinese leader had shown interest in French investment, notably in the energy, transport and telecommunications sectors.
On the third day of Hu's state visit, controversy continued over China's human rights record, as four members of the Falungong sect banned in China lodged a lawsuit in France against Chinese Culture Minister Sun Jiazheng for "torture".
The Chinese president's meeting with the French business elite came a day after French President Jacques Chirac sided with China against Taiwan in denouncing a planned March 20 referendum in the island state that Beijing fears is a step towards independence.
Chirac also assured Hu that France was lobbying to overturn an EU ban on arms sales to China imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, while getting the Chinese leader to publicly promise that his government would respect human rights.
Hu on Wednesday met with French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin for further discussions on building economic and other ties.
The two men officiated at the signing of several Franco-Chinese deals and cooperation agreements, including three already worked out with Chinese companies by French construction materials group Saint-Gobain, automaker PSA Peugeot Citroen and electronics group Thomson.


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