France is the first western country to have held a strategic dialogue and built a comprehensive partnership with China. Bilateral relations have been fuelled by an intense series of high-level visits.

Current French President Francois Hollande has made two state visits to China, in 2013 and 2015. Hollande also attended the G20 Hangzhou Summit in 2016 and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping for a working dinner on the sidelines of the event.

On the Chinese side, President Xi made a state visit to France in 2014 and an official visit in 2015, on the margins of the Paris Climate Conference.

Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited France in 2015, signing a joint statement on civil nuclear energy cooperation on that occasion.

In the field of bilateral trade, China is now the EU's 2nd trading partner behind the US, with the EU being China's biggest trading partner. France enjoyed a 1.6% market share in China in 2016, ranking fourth among EU members states after Germany, the UK and Italy.