China seeks nuke cooperation with France
(businessweek.com)
Updated: 2005-12-07 15:20

Later Tuesday, Wen visited helicopter maker Eurocopter and the site of ITER, the international experimental fusion reactor project, in Cadarache, southern France.

Eurocopter, a division of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. consortium, signed a deal with China's Avic II Monday to jointly develop and manufacture a new nonmilitary helicopter.

Fabrice Bregier, Eurocopter's president, said a total of 800 of the new helicopters would be built on two production lines, one in China for its internal market, the other in France for sales elsewhere.

There was a surprise for Wen's delegation at the end of the visit: One of Airbus' giant new A380 jets did two low-level fly-bys. The plane had taken off from the west of France earlier in the day specifically so Wen could see it in the air.