久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

中文USEUROPEAFRICAASIA
World / US and Canada

US, France trying to build 'transformed' alliance

(Xinhua) Updated: 2014-02-12 13:29

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama and his French counterpart Francois Hollande are going all out to make optimal use of the French leader's ongoing three-day state visit to build an alliance that, they say, has been "transformed" in recent years for even closer cooperation and long-term goals.

"NEVER BEEN STRONGER"

"What I do believe, is that the US-French alliance has never been stronger, and the levels of cooperation that we're seeing across a whole range of issues is much deeper than it was, I think, five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago," Obama said on Tuesday at a joint press conference with Hollande following bilateral talks at the White House.

US, France trying to build 'transformed' alliance 

Hollande visit highlights 'incredible' historic bond

US, France trying to build 'transformed' alliance

White House puts a taste of US on menu

He identified four key areas on which the two countries have cooperated over the years -- global security, trade and economy, clean energy and global development.

"This level of partnership across so many areas would have been unimaginable, even a decade ago," Obama said. "But it's a testament to how our two nations have worked to transform our alliance."

Indeed, their current collaboration is a far cry from a relationship battered a decade ago by France's refusal to join the Iraq war, an episode that even prompted outraged US lawmakers to rename "French fries" served in Congress's cafeteria as "freedom fries."

In their joint appearance before the press, both Obama and Hollande also tried to play down their areas of divergence -- the National Security Agency's spying program and France's pledge to pull out combat troops from Afghanistan not in sync with other NATO allies.

"I want to reiterate today to the French press that we are committed to making sure that we are protecting and concerned about the privacy rights, not just of Americans, not just of our own citizens, but of people around the world as well," Obama said, as Washington's secret surveillance had sparked outcries in Europe and other parts of the world over breach of trust and intrusion of privacy rights.

"Mutual trust has been restored," declared Hollande, who said that his announcement at a NATO summit in Chicago in April 2012 that France would withdraw all combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of that year, two years ahead of an American and NATO schedule, was not "an easy decision" to make.

"BEST ALLY IN EUROPE"

"US-French relations are very strong at the moment, particularly in the foreign policy and security area," said Heather Conley, a Europe specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington.

As a matter of fact, Obama is eager to see a more cooperative France now than any other time during his presidency.

"Obama benefits from demonstrating close relations with a government that has taken a more forceful line toward some issues, such as the civil war in Syria, on which some of Obama's domestic critics wish he would be more forceful," observed Paul Pillar, a visiting professor at Georgetown University for security studies.

While the US president is facing a Republican party unwilling to cooperate on almost anything in Congress, he has a number of priorities on his agenda to push through during his second year in office after winning reelection in 2012, including immigration reform and job creation.

The president's Democratic Party stands to lose ground in November mid-term elections, a prospect that has worried the party a lot as it is trying to hold the Senate after losing the House of Representatives to the GOP in 2010 elections.

France's taking the lead in Africa, notably in Mali and the Central African Republic, had pleased the Obama administration, which has shown reluctance to engage militarily overseas due to a tightening budget and the public's weariness with wars.

As in Libya in 2011, when Britain and France took the lead in launching air strikes on government targets, Washington has chosen again to "lead from behind" by offering logistical and information support for French and African Union-led efforts in Africa.

Washington needs Paris in the years ahead in its continued efforts to prevent al-Qaida from gaining new footholds across the Sahel region and help boost security in countries from Senegal to Somalia.

"France has become the US's best ally in Europe, at least as seen through the prism of crisis management and military cooperation," Frederic Bozo, an international relations expert in France, was quoted as saying by a Christian Science Monitor article.

In his efforts to forge a personal bond with Hollande, Obama took the French leader aboard his Air Force One jet, as soon as he arrived on Monday for the visit, to tour Thomas Jefferson's plantation estate outside Charlottesville, Virginia, as the third American president was a famed Francophile and a US ambassador to Paris.

For Hollande, he needs help from Obama and the US as well amid an unemployment hovering around 11 percent, an anemic growth of 0.4 percent in the last quarter, a drop of 77 percent in inflowing foreign investment in 2013 and a record low in his personal approval rating.

That's the reason the French president has chosen to head westward for a meeting with leaders of hi-tech companies in Silicon Valley on Wednesday, after attending a state dinner held in his honor on Tuesday evening at the White House.

?

US, France trying to build 'transformed' alliance 
US, France trying to build 'transformed' alliance
 

US, French presidents show solidarity and friendship

Obama,Hollande make pilgrimage to Jefferson's estate 

Trudeau visits Sina Weibo
May gets little gasp as EU extends deadline for sufficient progress in Brexit talks
Ethiopian FM urges strengthened Ethiopia-China ties
Yemen's ex-president Saleh, relatives killed by Houthis
Most Popular
Hot Topics
...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 91精品国产免费网站 | 中文字幕一二三四区2021 | 久草在线在线观看 | 国产三级午夜理伦三级 | 美女黄色在线观看 | 一区二区三区在线免费观看视频 | 万全影院亚洲影院理论片 | 美国毛片基地a级e片 | 成人黄页 | 92精品国产自产在线观看 | 成人黄网大全在线观看 | 成人国产网站v片免费观看 成人国产午夜在线视频 | 欧美视频一区在线 | 久久午夜鲁丝片午夜精品 | 日韩国产欧美在线观看一区二区 | 一级特黄性色生活片一区二区 | 国产精品视频久久久久 | 女人国产香蕉久久精品 | 三级黄色毛片视频 | 男人干女人的视频 | 91精品全国免费观看 | 亚洲天堂色网站 | 亚洲三级网址 | 亚洲 欧美 精品 | 美女张开腿让男人 | 91亚洲国产成人久久精品网站 | 性做久久久久久 | 99精品欧美一区二区三区美图 | 亚洲天堂视频在线 | 波多野结衣在线观看免费区 | 亚洲毛片一级巨乳 | 婷婷的久久五月综合先锋影音 | 操美女大逼视频 | 久久精品国产这里是免费 | 高颜值美女啪啪 | 99久国产 | 三级国产精品一区二区 | 91大神大战丝袜美女在线观看 | 精品国产不卡一区二区三区 | 久艹视频在线免费观看 | 精品国产呦系列在线看 |