China, France vow to expend nuclear cooperation

China and France have vowed to expand their three decades of nuclear energy cooperation to target markets in other countries. "We agreed to jointly exploit third-party nuclear energy markets. China hopes the two countries can find broader space in the markets," said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang while meeting reporters after his hour-long talks with visiting French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. Li described their discussion as "candid and friendly." He called on the two countries to develop a more equal partnership in nuclear energy cooperation, and at the same time, to jointly research and develop new reactor types and strengthen the sharing of experience. He said he hoped France would transfer more technology to China. Nuclear energy cooperation between China and France dates back to the establishment of the Daya Bay nuclear power plant in the early 1990s in south China's Guangdong Province. It has two 1,000 MW pressurized water reactors introduced from France. Governments and businesses of the two countries also held a seminar to mark China-France nuclear energy cooperation on Friday. In addition to nuclear energy, the two leaders told reporters that the two countries will further cooperate in areas including aviation, trade, investment, finance, food, agricultural products, health, automobile manufacturing and sustainable development. Ayrault arrived in Beijing on Thursday morning, starting a five-day official visit to China at the invitation of Li. This is Ayrault's first China visit, which he said is an important opportunity to get to know Chinese leaders and learn about China. After a stay in the capital, he will fly to Wuhan in Hubei and Taishan in south China's Guangdong Province, where another China-France nuclear power plant is under construction.