BEIJING - China on Tuesday congratulated France on its new cabinet, pledging to seek stronger bilateral ties.

"Premier Wen Jiabao and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi sent congratulatory letters to their French counterparts respectively following the creation of France's new cabinet," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a press briefing on Tuesday.

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The new cabinet was formed Sunday with Francois Fillon staying on as prime minister. The cabinet of 22 ministers, including 11 women, and eight other members was significantly smaller than its 37-member predecessor.

Hong said China-France relations had enjoyed "a good momentum of development", citing Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to France earlier this month.

"The two presidents reached an important consensus on building a new, mature and stable comprehensive strategic partnership based on mutual trust and mutual benefit and with a global perspective," Hong said.

China would like to work with France to carry out the consensus, increase high-level exchanges of visits, deepen substantive cooperation, enhance people-to-people exchanges and step up communication and coordination on international issues, Hong said.