On January 9, 2003, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan held talks with his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin who is on a visit to China, during which they  spoke positively of bilateral ties. Tang said the two countries have kept close high-level contacts, with bilateral trade volume on the increase last year, adding that the two sides signed several major documents on economic and trade cooperation, and made new progress on exchanges and cooperation in the fields of culture, technology, and education. He also said that the two sides have maintained close consultation and cooperation in international affairs and share identical or similar positions on many major international issues.  

Noting that France is willing to expand and deepen its ties with China, De Villepin said that France is happy to see that bilateral economic and trade relations have maintained a good momentum, and he hopes the two sides will boost cooperation in energy, environmental protection and aviation. He said that President Jacques Chirac hopes to strengthen strategic dialogue with China so that the two sides can consult with each other and coordinate their stances on a series of major issues. De Villepin said that France has closely followed  the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, adding France is willing to contribute to China's reform and opening up.

The two ministers also discussed exchanges and cooperation in all fields for this year.

On the Iraqi issue, Tang said that the adoption of Resolution 1441 fully demonstrates the aspiration of the international community to solve the Iraqi issue by political means. He said that Iraq handed in the weapons of mass destruction declaration in a timely manner and assumed a cooperative attitude towards the UN weapons inspection, adding that such a situation has not come by easily and should be cherished. He proposed that the following three points should be oberseved, namely, stick to the weapons inspection and get to the bottom of things; fully trust and support the efforts of UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); and major decisions should be made by the UN Security Council after taking in opinons of related parties.

De Villepin said that the authoritativeness of the UN Security Council should be upheld and Resolution 1441 be fully observed. He said that France will go all out to support the efforts of  UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and IAEA, calling on the Iraqi side to cooperate actively with UN. He also stressed the importance of settling the Iraqi issue peacefully.

Tang said that the North Korea nuclear issue and the Iraqi issue are different in nature, as a result of which different problem solving mechnisms accepted by the international community should be adopted. He said that the way to solve the North Korea nuclear issue is through the direct dialogue between the United States and North Korea, and to keep implementing the 1994 nuclear framework agreement signed by the above two countries.

Tang said that the key to prevent the situation from getting worse, or even getting out of control is to break the deadlock between US and North Korea. He noted that fortunately, the two countries and other related parties are all for solving the problem through peaceful dialogues.

Tang reiterated that China has always held that the de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsular should be realized and peace in the island should be maintained, and China is also for the peaceful settlement of promblems through dialogue.  

De Villepin said that IAEA has passed relevant resolutions and the US also showed its willingness to conduct dialogues with North Korea, which is to the satisfaction of the French side. On the North Korea nuclear issue, he said that the principle of nuclear non-proliferation should be observed, North Korea should  fulfill its relevant obligations, and the international community should also try all means to promote dialogue between US and North Korea while taking North Korea's security concern into consideration.

The two foreign ministers also exchanged views on the international situation as well as the hot issues in the Middle East, South Asia and Central Asia.