French President Nicolas Sarkozy intends visiting Beijing this year, the president's office said Wednesday, according to DPA. Sarkozy has received an invitation from Chinese President Hu Jintao with whom he has discussed Beijing's role as a world power in a telephone conversation, the Elysee Palace said. "There are no solutions to problems such as Iran, Darfur and North Korea without a strong and positive contribution from China," Sarkozy said in the statement. The French president gave implicit support to China's claim on Taiwan by saying that France recognized just one China. Hu considered Sarkozy an "old friend of China's," the statement said.
