France and China will sign joint declaration on bilateral partnership today
France is rolling out the red carpet for the four-day visit of President Hu Jintao in the hope of receiving stronger backing for its goal of creating a multipolar global order and of winning commercial contracts to boost the lethargic French economy.
Among the highlights of Mr Hu's visit will be his address to the National Assembly, France's parliament, this afternoon - a privilege requested by Beijing, according to a report in French daily Le Figaro.
So far, this honour has been accorded to only a handful of foreign leaders, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair and South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Although the address is meant to raise the profile of the mainland - still suffering under French public opinion from the backlash of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 and its human rights record - a number of parliamentary deputies have said they will boycott the speech.
'Nothing obliges us to listen to him who leads the world's biggest dictatorship,' the Associated Press quoted Lionnel Luca, a lawmaker from President Jacques Chirac's Union for the Presidential Majority party, as saying. 'China is not the smiling face it seems.'