On the afternoon of December 5, 2004, President Hu Jintao held a telephone conversation with French President Jacques Chirac upon request. The two sides exchanged views on bilateral relations and important current international issues.

Chirac hailed the remarkable achievements made recently in the friendly cooperation between France and China in all areas, and expressed the hope that the two countries maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges of visits and constantly strengthen exchanges and cooperation.

Hu indicated he was pleased to see the sound development momentum of China-France relations. He noted that the consensus on bilateral cooperation reached by heads of state of the two countries during the meeting in Beijing is being implemented in earnest. China is ready to make joint efforts with France to push China-France comprehensive strategic partnership towards constant development.

When touching upon international and regional issues, Chirac introduced the agreement reached by the three EU members, i.e. France, Germany and the U.K., with Iran on the solution to the nuclear issue in Iran and the considerations for the next step. He also informed the Chinese side of the views of France on the situation in Iraq and the Middle East issue.

Hu indicated support for the three countries to continue negotiating with Iran in a bid to reach a long-term solution, saying that China will continue playing a constructive role in the process. He said that China is deeply concerned with the prolonged turbulences in Iraq, adding that the consensus on promoting the rebuilding of Iraq reached at the recently convened international conference on Iraq reflected the support of the international community for peace in Iraq. Regarding the Middle East issue, Hu said that the situation in the Middle East is now at a critical moment, hoping that the general election of Palestine can be held smoothly, and noting that China supports the peace process in the Middle East and upholds resolving the Middle East issue through political negotiations in accordance with relevant UN resolutions and under the principle of "land for peace". China and France share similar views on related issues; therefore the two sides should continue enhancing coordination and make joint efforts to address appropriately the issue of Iraq and promote the peace process in the Middle East.

The two heads of state also exchanged views on other issues of common concern.