Spokesman on fruitful outcomes of French FM's China trip

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot's visit to China has yielded a number of significant outcomes, said a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday at a regular press conference held in Beijing.

Barrot visited China from March 27 to 28. Premier Li Qiang met with him. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Foreign Minister Barrot had talks and jointly met the press. The two sides had in-depth communication on China-France and China-EU relations as well as international and regional issues of mutual interest, Guo briefed the press.

"Both sides shared the view that facing profound changes in the international landscape, as comprehensive strategic partners, China and France need to display a sense of mission, stay committed to multilateralism, dialog, coordination and mutual benefit, oppose unilateralism, bloc confrontation, decoupling and supply chains disruption, and demonstrate a new sense of commitment in another 60 years of bilateral relations," he said.

"Both sides agreed that they will make the high-level dialogs on strategy, economy and finance, and cultural and people-to-people exchange a success; deepen cooperation in traditional fields such as agriculture, tap potential for cooperation in innovative industries, including artificial intelligence, encourage two-way investment, and settle trade disputes and open up cooperation prospects through friendly consultation and dialog; implement the initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping during his visit to France last year, namely bringing the total number of French students in China to more than 10,000, and doubling the number of young Europeans on exchange programs to China in the next three years, further facilitate cross-border travel, and have closer exchanges in culture and other fields; strengthen multilateral coordination, firmly support the UN's central role, and safeguard the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter," Guo said.

"The two countries issued a joint statement on climate change. They said that the two sides commit to implementing the Paris Agreement in a comprehensive, complete and effective manner, and strengthening green and low-carbon cooperation. When the global climate governance comes under headwinds, the statement sends a positive message of the joint and firm response by China and France to climate change, which is of great importance for lifting confidence in global climate cooperation and promoting the multilateral process on climate change. During the visit, the French side reaffirmed their firm commitment to the one-China policy, which China appreciates," said Guo.

Spokesman on fruitful outcomes of French FM's China trip

Black-necked crane, a rare species under China's first-class national protection, has been living in harmony with local residents over the past years in their plateau paradise -- southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, thanks to the ecological conservation efforts made by local authorities and the care provided by the locals.

Every autumn, the village of Jianda in Shigatse City welcomes some distinguished guests -- over 1,000 black-necked cranes dressed in their elegant black-and-white "tuxedos".

Jianda is their exclusive "winter palace", where they are looked after by 75-year-old Tenzin. He has born witness to the village’s time-honored proud tradition of harmony with nature.

In this model of "human-crane cohabitation", the cranes stand guard as the farmers till their fields and they dance while the livestock graze on pasture. And in the golden glow of sunset, the village's chimneys puff out smoke to a chorus of crane calls, in celebration of a timeless pact between humans and birds.

Every year, when the wintering season ends and the cranes prepare to leave Jianda, Tenzin is always reluctant to part with his pets.

"They're leaving for Changtang [Plateau] again. I can't help but feel a bit reluctant to see them go," said Tenzin.

The black-necked crane, dubbed the "panda of birds", is the world's only crane species that breeds and lives on plateau. They mainly inhabit swamps, lakes, and floodplains at an altitude of 2,500 to 5,000 meters. In China, black-necked cranes are mainly distributed across the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau and the Yunnan Guizhou-Plateau.

Their food includes plant leaves, rhizomes and algae. The presence of the black-necked cranes is a sufficient indicator of the sound environment of the plateau wetland ecosystem.

Xizang has always prioritized eco-environmental conservation and kept reminding itself that conserving the ecology of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau is the greatest contribution to the survival and development of the Chinese nation, said a white paper issued by the Chinese government in March.

The region is committed to maintaining harmony between humanity and nature in modernization. It also strives to continuously improve eco-environmental governance and protect biodiversity on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, according to the white paper.

Xizang has established 47 nature reserves of all kinds, covering 412,200 square kilometers. According to the second survey of terrestrial wild animals, there are 1,072 terrestrial wild vertebrate species and 246 wild animal species under special state protection in Xizang.

Black-necked cranes coexist peacefully with humans in their plateau paradise