¡¡¡¡BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Jiang Zemin, chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC), said Monday during a meeting with French Minister of Defense Michele Alliot-Marie that China and France should strengthen exchanges and cooperation and work for a new international order.

¡¡¡¡Jiang said China and France, as two nations with major international influence, had fruitful cooperation in recent years as they had cooperated and coordinated well on international issues.

¡¡¡¡He praised French President Jacques Chirac as an "old friend" of China, who had made great contributions to China-France relations.

¡¡¡¡Jiang said China advocated a new world order characterized by political mutual trust, economic cooperation, learning other nations in cultural areas and mutual trust in terms of security.

¡¡¡¡Jiang said great attention should be given to the influence of the Iraq war on world political and economic order. But he said the trend of multi-polarization remained and the main themes of the time were peace and development.

¡¡¡¡Alliot-Marie said President Chirac valued joint efforts with China in maintaining world peace and security. Although France and China were far away from each other geographically and had different political systems, they shared a common view of international diversity, which was important in handling today's world affairs.

¡¡¡¡She said France and China should strengthen cooperation and exchanges in military and other areas. Enditem