PARIS, March 10 (Xinhua) -- China embodies the essence of innovation and opportunity, said former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"In the book written by (Chinese) President Xi Jinping on the governance of China, the most common word is innovation among all the big strategic words," Raffarin said.

The importance of China is due to its commitment to innovation, which allows it to be a very important partner in this sector, said Raffarin, adding that China and France can do a lot together in this field.

With respect to international relations, Raffarin said China is "defending multilateralism, defending cooperation against tensions, and defending trade against military confrontations" in a world that is increasingly complicated.

The former French leader took the Belt and Road Initiative as an example, saying that it "is not only good for growth and jobs, but also good for the balance of the world, and the balance of the world is the number one goal of foreign policies in France and China."

Raffarin has always spoken highly of the initiative. On the occasion of the Chinese Lunar New Year, he expressed his wishes in Chinese on his Twitter account that read: "May the new silk road become a new link of our friendship."

In addition to improving global governance, China is also creating opportunities, said Raffarin, noting the first China International Import Expo scheduled for November this year in the Chinese mega city of Shanghai.

"This is a very important meeting on a commercial level, (and) we have exchanges to balance, companies to meet," Raffarin said.

The former French prime minister also marveled at the enormous size of the Chinese market.

"The Chinese provinces are very powerful. For example, Sichuan (Province), with a very high growth rate, is a market as big as Germany," he said.