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De-risking and market access dominate China-France economic talks
- Decoupling is an illusion but supply chain concerns are real, French economy minister says on visit to Beijing
- Both countries agree to cooperation in a range of areas, including climate change and aerospace development
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France voiced its opposition to decoupling from China but stressed the need to minimise supply chain risks, during talks in Beijing on the weekend.
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French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday that he discussed de-risking and decoupling with his counterpart Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng “to avoid any misunderstanding of the two words”.
“First of all, we are totally opposed to the idea of decoupling. Decoupling is an illusion. There is no possibility of having any kind of decoupling between the American, European and Chinese economies,” Le Maire said.
“De-risking does not mean that China is a risk but means that we want to be more independent and that we don’t want to face any risk to our supply chains as we’ve seen during Covid period.
“It is a word that means more sovereignty, more independence to face the risk of a new crisis that might interrupt the good functioning of trade and exchanges.”
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He said China remained a key partner but access for foreign investors was an issue.
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