Sarkozy to invite President Hu to France

　　据法国《欧洲时报》21日转引法新社报道称，法国总统萨科齐正式邀请中国国家主席胡锦涛访问法国。法国总统府已证实了这一消息。

　　法国媒体是在中国人大常委会委员长吴邦国与法国国民议会议长阿克耶20日在北京会谈后报道了萨科齐邀请胡锦涛访法的这一消息。阿克耶是西藏问题导致两国历时4个月不和之后首位访问中国的法国高级领导人。

　　法国总统府周一晚上证实，阿克耶确实带去了萨科齐的邀请信，法国总统邀请中国国家主席胡锦涛年内访法。

　　Paris plans to invite President Hu Jintao to France, a move that will further mend relations with Beijing.

　　National Assembly of France President Bernard Accoyer is in China and will officially invite Hu to visit France by the end of the year, an official with French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said in Paris on Monday.

　　Relations between Beijing and Paris hit a low after Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama in December, during France's tenure of the European Union presidency, despite China's repeated protests. China and France then went through one of the coldest winters in their 45-year-old diplomatic relations.

　　After rounds of negotiations, China and France on April 1 issued a statement that said France fully recognizes "the importance and sensitivity of the Tibet issue" and that France refuses to support any form of "Tibet independence". Hu and Sarkozy met the same day on the sidelines of the G20 summit in London.

　　Since then, Paris has sent a number of high-ranking officials to Beijing, including Accoyer and former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, with more big profiles to appear in Beijing in the coming weeks, including former president Jacques Chirac.

　　Earlier this month, France started building a new embassy in Beijing that had been delayed for months due to the diplomatic quarrel. When finished in 2010, it will become one of the largest French embassies around the world.