Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders' Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov. 19, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

RIO DE JANEIRO -- China and France, as major countries, share common responsibilities to lead the international community to unite in efforts to address global challenges at a time when many new changes are unfolding in the international landscape, said Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday.

Xi made the remarks while meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders' Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

China-France relations are of unique strategic significance and global influence as both are independent, mature and responsible major countries, Xi noted, adding that in May this year, he and Macron outlined a vision for the next 60 years of China-France relations and jointly spoke out on global challenges and hotspot issues, leaving a wide and positive impact on the international arena.

He urged the two countries to deepen strategic communication, strengthen mutual support, maintain a momentum of steady and positive development of bilateral relations, and make greater contribution to the sound development of China-Europe relations and world peace and stability.

Xi reaffirmed that China is willing to continue to strengthen high-level exchanges with France, deepen exchanges and cooperation in such fields as culture, education, youth, and at local level, so as to promote people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee has launched a new round of reform and opening-up process in China, creating fresh opportunities for China-France cooperation and broadening the scope for practical cooperation between the two nations, he said.

Xi expressed his hope that the two sides will make good use of mechanisms such as the high-level economic and financial dialogue and the joint committee of trade and economic cooperation to further tap the potential of cooperation, strengthen complementary advantages, properly resolve differences, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

For his part, Macron recalled Xi's successful visit to France in May this year, during which they jointly celebrated the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between France and China.

Noting that the world today is full of instabilities and uncertainties, Macron said that France is willing to work with China to earnestly implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, continue to strengthen high-level exchanges, enhance people-to-people exchanges, continue traditional friendship and forge a new type of state-to-state relations.

France upholds strategic autonomy and is willing to engage in dialogue and cooperation with China in the spirit of mutual respect, properly handle economic and trade disputes, maintain a sound and steady development of bilateral economic and trade relations, and strengthen cooperation in climate change, global AI governance and other fields, he said.

The two sides exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis. Xi noted that China's position on the crisis is consistent, and China hopes that the conflict will be eased.

Neither spillover of the crisis nor escalation of the conflict is what China wants to see; instead, China will continue to play a constructive role in its own way for the ceasefire and end of the conflict, he added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders' Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov. 19, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]