Thu, May 10, 2012
By Wang Qi, Sina English
In the French election that has just ended, leftist Socialist candidate Francois Hollande, as expected, burst Sarkozy's re-election bubble, making him the 11th European leader stripped of power by the enrozone crisis.
Not a few observers believe that Mr. Hollande's rise may have some impact on China-France ties, as he represents the leftist Socialist Party and owes his success to left voters' support. And naturally, he will maintain basic values of the leftist and act on commitments to his voters.
As assumed, Hollande's election might cool relations between China and France, at least in the short run. After all, he is not so familiar to the Chinese as his rivalSarkozy was, also incurred upon him ammunition from Sarkozy's campaign team.
In addition, his leftist ideology toward China's aid in EU and stance on trade deficit with China and RMB exchange rate will all contribute to cooler economic and trade relations.
But when put under close scrutiny, China's relationship with the United States and Europe in the new millennium all but can be labeled with "good", be it under the rule of leftist Clinton, Blair , Schroeder, or conservative Bush, Cameron and Merkel.
This is because ideologies have to give way to national interests. For the sake of securing their own interests, seeking strategic cooperative partnership with China is always unanswerably a wise choice.
Besides, as China-Britain and China-Germany relations marched well into maturity, Hollande is to face multiple pressures from French politicians, social media and the public if China-France ties goes stagnant or spirals downward under his rule. Since France is the biggest continental country in Europe, adverse development in its relationship with China will turn out to be a losing game.
Hence, given France's national interests and multiple pressures from home and abroad, China-France relations under Hollande's rule will be better, if not the best ever.
