Airbus sees increasing economic cooperation with China

Economic cooperation between China and France has flourished over the past fifty years. Airbus is a vivid example of cooperation between the two countries. China imported the first Airbus planes in 1985.

Now, China has over 1000 Airbus planes, accounting for over half of the country's civilian transport aircraft. Airbus A320 set up an assembly line in Tianjin Municipality in 2008, its first assembly line outside Europe.

"We have assembled over 150 airplanes, and the quality of the plane is at least as good as those produced in Europe, if not better. The most difficult and complicated part of a plane is the wing. And they are now being produced in China's city of Xi'an. If there was no trust between us and the European companies, they could not allow us to produce such a vital part of the plane--- the wing-- in China." Chen Juming, CEO of Airbus China, said.

So far, France is China's fourth largest trading partner in the Europe Union. The trade volume reached 51 billion US dollars in 2012, compared to 100 million US dollars when both sides first established diplomatic ties back in 1964. The trade volume has increased by ten times on average per year.