Embassy of France in Beijing
The French embassy in Beijing is located at Chancery: No.3, Dong San Jie, San Li Tun, it's purpose being to represent the interests of France in China. There was a time when this meant that the ambassador would hold discussions with the Chinese government on behalf of his own government but that rarely happens anymore. Modern technology has made that unnecessary, the ambassador is now mainly a ceremonial job. The real purpose of the embassy is to promote French business in China. With China being a growing economic power there is more and more competition from countries looking to do business there. The embassies job is to help French citizens who want to do business in China as well as to encourage the Chinese to invest in France. The embassy is also where any Chinese citizens who wish to visit France will need to go in order to get the required visas.
France is one of the largest and most populous nations in Europe, it is also one of it's top tourist destinations. France is well known art and for food, and along with the countries history this is what attracts the tourists. There was a time when France was a major player in global affairs but that is no longer the case, however the French have largely resisted the trend of coalitions. Although they are members of the European Union, France tends to go their own way on many international issues and do not join as many international agreements as other countries. This has often put them into conflict, especially with the United States but the French rather stubbornly pursue there own interests.
France has what would be considered a post industrial economy with a large high tech and service industry. However the French economy has struggled in recent years mainly as the result of the high cost of doing business. French labour unions are very strong and the laws in France provide employees more protection than in any country in the world. This combined with the high taxes in France have led many companies to leave and set up shop in other countries, something that is very easy to do now that the European Union exists. Not surprisingly the French economy has suffered badly in recent years and that is unlikely to change any time soon.
Relations between France and China are reasonably good although there is room for improvement according to France-Business.org. Like relationships between most countries it is based on mutual self interest, France wants access to the Chinese market for it's businesses while the Chinese want to increase their influence on the world stage. Although they have had some troubles in the past for now France and China are getting along quite well. So far the relationship has worked well as the amount of trade between them has grown dramatically in recent years. It remains to be seen what will happen when China actually succeeds in becoming a major player on the world stage.