Chinese President Hu Jintao met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday night.

"Our meeting today means a new starting point for the bilateral relations, and I hope the two sides work together to usher in a new phase in Chinese-French ties," Hu said at the start of his meeting with Sarkozy.

The two leaders were meeting on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit on the financial crisis, scheduled for Thursday.

Earlier China and France announced that the two countries would hold high-level contacts and strategic dialogues at a proper time.

The announcement was made in a press communique released by Chinese and French foreign ministries in both Beijing and Paris on Wednesday.

In the communique, France said that it would not back "Tibet independence" in any form.

(Xinhua News Agency / CRIENGLISH.com April 2, 2009)