French parliament speaker Claude Bartolone urged political figures on Monday not to interpret history for political reasons in response to a comparison of current Chinese-Japanese relations to pre-World War I Europe.

"(We) should allow the historians to interpret (history), to tell the reality of history, and not (let political figures) interpret history for political reasons," Bartolone told a press conference in Beijing.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on the sidelines of last week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, compared current China-Japan relations to those between Britain and Germany on the eve of World War I.

Bartolone, speaker of the French National Assembly, is heading a parliament and trade delegation to China to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and the People's Republic of China.

It was an important political decision for the two countries to establish diplomatic ties during the Cold War, Bartolone said, noting that the decision was historical.

He hailed the present Sino-French cooperation and welcomed Chinese students, tourists, business people and investors to visit or invest in France.

Bartolone also applauded the exchange between the French and Chinese parliaments, underlining cooperation in environmental protection, energy saving and food safety.

In 1964, Chairman Mao Zedong and General Charles de Gaulle made the groundbreaking decision to establish ambassador-level diplomatic ties. France thus became the first major Western power to set up official diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. Endi

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