France hopes to improve its all-round cooperation with China and consolidate bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership, speaker of the French National Assembly told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Bernard Accoyer is scheduled to visit China on April 19-26 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China.

This will be the first time since 1982 that a speaker of the National Assembly makes an official visit to China.

The visit is designed to boost the cooperation between the two parliaments and upgrade the China-France parliamentarian relations, Accoyer said.

Accoyer also said that his visit has two purposes, namely, to promote the exchanges between the two parliaments, and the economic cooperation between the two countries which lies at the core of bilateral relations.

He also said "understanding and mutual respect must remain as the driving force behind the development of bilateral relations in the future."

In early April, France and China issued a joint communiqué in which France reiterated its position on Tibet-related issues, saying that France adheres to the one-China policy, Tibet is an integral part of the Chinese territory, and that based on the principle of not interfering in others' internal affairs, France will in no way support "Tibet independence".

"I share this clear reaffirmation of the position made by my country," Accoyer said.

The speaker also said that during their meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 London summit earlier this month, Chinese President Hu Jintao and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy voiced the hope to strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, making him believe that this relationship will be enhanced in all fields, especially in parliamentarian cooperation.

Accoyer further said he and his Chinese counterpart Wu have agreed to set up a mechanism for regular exchanges between the two parliaments.

"We believe these exchanges can contribute to the deepening of mutual understanding and trust," he said.

The main task of the mechanism is to promote the exchange of views on bilateral relations and major issues of common concerns, facilitate the exchange of visits between top officials, coordinate the exchange of visits between organs of parliaments and friendship groups as well as the exchange of publications on parliamentary work, he said.

All the exchanges will deepen the understanding and the mutual trust between the two countries, the speaker concluded.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2009)