French officials say Hu Jintao will commit billions of euros to contracts France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy is set to honour his Chinese counterpart with extravagant state events as he arrives to seal huge business deals.
Hu Jintao is expected to sign billions of euros-worth of contracts with Airbus and French firms including oil firm Total and nuclear engineer Areva.
France will roll out the red carpet with full military honours and a state dinner.
But activists complain that China’s human rights record will be ignored.
Unusually, for a three-day state visit, there will not even be a joint press conference between the presidents, giving Western journalists the opportunity to question Mr Hu on issues like Tibet, press freedom and the imprisonment of dissidents.
Business deals are the firm focus of the trip.
A presidential aide told the AFP news agency that the total value of the deals signed would be massive – “far greater than during any previous visit by European leaders to Beijing or by Chinese leaders abroad”.
France has made great efforts to patch up its relationship with China after they nosedived two years ago.
Following a crackdown on Tibetan protesters in March 2008, President Sarkozy came close to boycotting the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
China’s crackdown in Tibet sparked protests in France in 2008 He eventually decided to attend, but incensed Beijing later that year when he met the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
China called off a summit with the EU and high-level contacts with France in protest.
But the two countries patched up ties last year and Mr Sarkozy seems determined to give Mr Hu a warm welcome, meeting him personally at Orly airport.
Then the two men will inspect a military guard and drive through Paris with a mounted military escort. There will be a state dinner with their wives on Thursday evening, a visit to the Arc de Triomphe, and then a cosy Provencal meal at a restaurant in Nice on Friday.
Between all these events there will be several meetings with business leaders and contract-signing ceremonies.
On Thursday morning the Franco-American telecoms giant Alcatel-Lucent said it was to sign a 770m-euro (£680m) deal with three Chinese operators – China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom.
The Chinese are also expected to purchase Airbus aircraft, and finalise a contract between French insurance firm Axa and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
Mr Sarkozy will also be keen to address the issue of trade imbalances, amid rising concern around the world that China is keeping its currency artificially low.
Mr Sarkozy is hoping to negotiate a deal on currency reform during France’s presidency of the G20, which begins next week.
From France, Mr Hu will travel on to Portugal on Saturday.
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