France's trade deficit with China has grown since 1999 and French investors -- who put more money into Peru than the Asian giant -- remain wary of opportunities in the Chinese market despite official encouragement to take the plunge.
Chinese President Hu Jintao (
In 2002, China was the biggest recipient of foreign direct investment, with 61 percent coming from other Asian countries.
France ranked eighth, with 1.2 percent, behind European partners Britain and Germany.
French investors put China 16th on their list of investment destinations, just behind Peru.
To date, French companies have invested 5.1 billion euros (US$6.4 billion) in China, led by high-profile groups like Alcatel, Alstom, Danone, EDF, Lafarge, L'Oreal, Michelin, Peugeot and Vivendi.
In all, 500 companies employ 150,000 people at around 900 sites.
But France's trade deficit has gone from 4.66 billion euros in 1999 to 7.81 billion for the first 11 months of last year.
Its market share has fallen from 2.7 percent in 1999 to 1.4 percent in 2002 and the first half of last year, while Germany occupied five percent of the Chinese market in 2002.
German exporters sell capital goods and machine tools to China, which needs them for their industrial expansion.
In August, French junior minister for foreign trade Francois Loos deemed it "urgent to help our businesses increase their presence in markets with strong growth potential."
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique