Hollande leaves Beijing with a pocket full of vital agreements

President Xi has been visiting various countries since last year and following the global financial crisis of 2008/09 the global economy has slowed down and it seems that President Xi is the only one holding a can of WD-40 in the form of China's One Belt One Road Initiative and capital for trade; which can grease the jammed cogs of the world economy. This is the very reason why many global leaders have their sights set on China. China is emerging as major player in the world with its win-win trade agreements no country or its leader can deny the merits of this pragmatic model of boosting ties.

Following President Xi's Euro tour last year, French Prime Minister Manuel's official China visit earlier this year and Premier Li Keqiang's visit to France in June this year are all the right reasons for the French President Francois Hollande's recent state visit to China but the most important reason why Hollande came was because at the end of the month, Paris will be hosting a crucial meeting for the future of the planet involving Climate Change. Since both China and France are playing a major role in working towards achieving the goals for climate change, much was needed to be discussed beforehand to make the "climate conference," from November 30-December 11 a success. Cui Hongjian, a specialist in China-Europe relations at the China Institute of International Studies commented that, Hollande's visit to China "is part of his climate change diplomacy" through which France envisions itself as the bastion of addressing "Global Warming".

China is a very important country when it comes to the topic of "climate change". China is the fastest developing economy and also the world's second largest economy thus many mistake China's importance in the topic of "Climate Change" as a country amongst major polluters but the reality is inverse; China's importance has risen in the topic because of China's endeavors to enforce green policies, China has made multiple climate pledges to promote these green policies. These include a decision to launch a national carbon cap-and-trade system in 2017 to help contain emissions, establishing a 20-billion-yuan (3.1-billion-U.S.-dollar) fund to help other developing countries combat and adapt to climate change, and cutting carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 60 percent to 65 percent from the 2005 level by 2030. These are not mere pledges, the framework for all these measures is already set in place and this is why China is integral for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change," from November 30-December 11 and during the meeting with Hollande, President Xi said that "China is committed to ensuring the success of the climate conference." Hollande commended China's declaration by calling it a "major step" towards an agreement in Paris and termed his Beijing trip as "historic".

China's declaration on "Climate Change" was not the only matter which made Hollande's visit "historic," Hollande walked away from Beijing with 17 cooperative agreements which include special areas of cooperation like nuclear energy, aerospace, finance, cultural exchange and electricity. China National Nuclear Corporation, China Atomic Energy Authority, China Huaneng Group and China Datang Corporation have signed agreements to boost ties in nuclear energy and electricity cooperation. The industrial cooperation agreement on nuclear waste recycling is estimated to be worth $22 billion. China National Nuclear Corp will take a stake in Areva and just by the mere announcement of this deal France's Areva shares jumped as much as 5.2 percent and were trading at 6.827 Euros at 12:36 p.m. in Paris.

JD.com China's leading online-shopping platform earlier this year in June signed a deal with Australian Mall, Australia Post and Treasury Wine Estates, now to further its international reach, it has also signed an agreement on intelligent logistics with France.

China's relationship with the EU especially with the big guns in Europe has changed dramatically in the past two decades, China and the EU had miniscule trade in the 1990s, while it stood at $514 billion in 2014. If we account for the entire EU, in that case EU becomes China's largest trading partner. This shift in the trend has a lot to do with the overarching trend of economic commitments on China's part. The major driver for this boost is China's grand strategic vision of the "One Belt One Road" initiative which is economically tantalizing for Europe and France also sees this opportunity as well that is why it is seeking to enhance its role in the plans with in this initiative which aim to link China and East Asia to Europe. This is why many important leaders of the E.U are finding dealing with China to be most beneficial. Recent examples of this can be found in President Xi's super visit to the UK, German Chancellor Merkel's recent visit to China and now just recently the French President Francois Hollande concluded an important state visit to China from November 2-3. Russian political economist Sergei Kharitonov described President Xi's state visit to the UK as "the wind from China' that 'hoists the UK's sail," where as major economic cooperation pacts and confidence building measures between other E.U power houses like the ones following France's President Francois Hollande's visit is proving that the same wind is hot enough to provide lift to other economies in Europe.