China and France signed a bilateral agreement on extradition in March this year, which laid a legal groundwork for the two countries’ collaboration in the fight against cross-border crimes. France will expect China to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It will continue to push for stronger human rights dialogue between China and Europe. It will also expect China to give French its due status as an official language of the International Olympic Committee during the 2008 Olympics.

The new French leader is bound to continue with Chirac’s policy toward China. Given this continuity, the China-France strategic partnership will be further advanced.

As far as its relations with the EU are concerned, France will promote EU integration conditionally. Since 1945, building Europe has been at the center of France’s foreign policy as the only approach to peace, security and prosperity on the European continent.

France is a major founder of the EU. Historically, France and Germany are the engines for building Europe. The two countries both take their policies toward the EU as the cornerstone of their foreign policies. Sarkozy seems to prefer restarting the process of European integration by replacing the France-Germany axis with a new triangular strategic alliance involving France, Germany and Britain, which it believes will jointly dominate the decision-making process.

France will make every effort to reestablish itself as a core country to promote unity in the EU and neutralize influences that hinder the development of Europe. It will try to simplify the constitutional treaty to make it better conform to the interests of France so that it can be passed next year when France holds the rotating presidency of the EU. France’s new diplomacy also calls on the EU to respond to French concerns over economic globalization. France believes that the European Central Bank has not done an adequate job controlling inflation, a failure that has adversely affected economic growth. France may pressure the euro to depreciate in a bid to expand the EU’s exports.

France stands against Turkey’s accession to the EU, believing that Turkey is a minor Asian country that does not have the will to integrate itself into the EU. It instead intends to pursue a Mediterranean alliance to link Europe with Africa.

France will seek equal status and partnership relations with the United States. The media labeled Sarkozy a pro-U.S. politician, often quoting his statement declaring that it is wrong for France to oppose the Iraq war. He is expected to mend France’s ties with the United States and resume the exchange of high-level visits at an earlier date.

However, shortly after he won the elections, Sarkozy pointed out that the United States should allow its allies to have different opinions. In fact, the two historical allies often find themselves at odds. Unlike Britain, France refrains from siding with the United States at critical junctures. It will not follow Washington’s footsteps if its own interests are endangered. Sarkozy’s efforts to restore U.S.-France relations are meant to safeguard its independence and big power status. Some politicians in the right-wing coalition in France will pose impediments to Sarkozy’s pro-U.S. policy. To date, however, there has been no alternative to France’s strategy of checking U.S. hegemony with the support of Europe.

Today, Germany is asking France to join it in promoting economic cooperation between Europe and the United States. It is also believed that France will be more cooperative with the United States on the Iranian nuclear issue than before. It may give up the view that Iran’s possession of nuclear weapons poses no threat to France. Regarding the Middle East issue, it is likely to improve relations with Israel for closer cooperation.

France and the United States have had controversy over issues such as the expansion of NATO, U.S. missile deployment in Central Europe, Turkey’s accession to the EU, the Iranian nuclear issue and the Kyoto Protocol. These issues bear on the overall interests of the EU and on the relationship between the EU and Russia, and cannot be resolved by France alone.

All French presidents since 1958 have underscored the goal of assisting development of other countries. France is the world’s second largest donor country, offering public development assistance worth $6.35 billion, less than Japan but more than the United States and Germany. The amount accounted 0.45 percent of its GDP, much higher than the average rate of developed countries-0.22 percent. In 1992, France became the first country to forgive debts owed by the least developed countries. Today, some 200 million people speak French. La Francophonie, the international organization of French-speaking countries including a number of African countries, has become a cooperative community in the fields of language, culture, economy and politics.