Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi meets his French counterpart Alain Juppe in Beijing on Tuesday. Juppe says he is seeking China's support on the upcoming G20 Cannes Summit. [Jiang Dong / China Daily]

BEIJING - French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe spent a busy Tuesday visiting Beijing to gain China's support for the upcoming G20 Cannes Summit.

"France is in close touch with China in regards of the G20 Cannes Summit that will start in two months. And we hope we can have China's support on this," Juppe said during a briefing with Chinese media after meeting his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi.

The Cannes Summit is targeting at three aims: to support the global economic recovery, to find new ways of financing and to suppress large-volume commodities' price hikes, Juppe added.

"China is willing to work together with France to expand bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and to make efforts on the practical and positive results of the G20 Cannes Summit," Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told his French counterpart on Tuesday.

The two also vowed to strengthen coordination to deal with other international challenges, he added.

Juppe's visit comes "at a moment of change and uncertainty", said Shen Wei, a professor at ESSCA School of Management in Angers, France.

"We (the eurozone countries) will continue to strengthen the euro, and we are happy to see China's confidence," Juppe said.

Juppe met Premier Wen Jiabao and State Councilor Dai Bingguo later in the day.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Finance Minister Francois Baroin also recently met their Chinese counterparts.

President Hu Jintao, in his meeting with Sarkozy in August, said that China hopes Europe will take steps to protect China's investments there. Hu also voiced confidence in the euro.

Before his visit to China, Juppe had been on an intensive trip to Russia, New Zealand and Australia, during which the European debt crisis and the unrest in Libya and Syria were on his agenda.

Juppe also called for China's support on the reconstruction of Libya during Tuesday's meetings.

China and France both recognize Libya's National Transitional Council as the authority of the country. A stable Libya is good for everyone who supports peace and development, and China will cooperate with France to support the new authority, said Ding Chun, chief director of Europe Research Center of Fudan University.

During his visit to Australia on Sunday, Juppe had indicated that the value of the yuan would be on his agenda for his meeting with Yang.

The question of the renminbi's value will be discussed, but Juppe is not likely to risk China's critical support by lecturing China to let the yuan appreciate, said Shen, adding that China and France have already made progress on the internationalization of the renminbi by potentially expanding its international use as part of the IMF's special drawing rights.

"The EU has to deal with the debt crisis and inefficient monetary policies right now, and the solutions are not in China," Ding said.

Laurence Parisot, president of the Movement of the French Enterprises, accused Americans of deliberately orchestrating a psychosis about the debt crisis in Europe.

This is being done to divert attention from their own debt problem, said Jean-Marie Rousseau, director of Belgium-based Initiatives in Territorial Intelligence & Regional Innovation Strategies.

Investors no longer have any illusions about the sustainability of the economic recovery in the United States, Rousseau said.

Cui Haipei and Ouyang Yuanhua contributed to this story.

China Daily