China, France ink US$4bn contracts

With the signing of 20 Sino-French agreements and contracts worth US$4bn, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin affirmed France's opposition to the European Union's 16-year ban on arms sales to China and called the recently enacted anti-secession law "totally compatible" with the French position on the one-China question, state media reported. The agreements include commitments by China to purchase 30 Airbus aircraft, joint ventures between French auto parts supplier Valeo and China's First Auto Works and nuclear partnerships between China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group and the Electricite de France.