French Prime Minister Francois Fillon told Chinese students Tuesday that any "misunderstandings" between Paris and Beijing were a thing of the past, following a heated row last year over Tibet. Fresh from sealing lucrative business deals during an official visit to China, Fillon told students at Beijing's Beihang University that both sides now wanted to move forward on the basis of "mutual respect."
"It's true that there have been misunderstandings in Sino-French relations," Fillon said as he wrapped up his three-day trip, adding that such incidents were "sometimes very exaggerated." "I think they were nothing but misunderstandings. We've worked to clear them up and we want to build our relations on mutual respect," he said, without elaborating on the nature of the spat. Fillon - who said his trip was aimed at "speeding up relations" - later met China's President Hu Jintao and parliamentary speaker Wu Bangguo to wrap up the formal meetings of his trip.