8-13 French President Jacques Chirac makes a state visit to China, further consolidating the Sino-French all-round strategic partnership. During his stay in Beijing, Chirac also attended the October 9 opening of the "French Culture Year in China" program, which is under the theme of "Romance, Innovation and People First."

9-13 UN Secretary General Kofi Annan visits China. President Hu Jintao met with Annan, reiterating that China will support, as always, the strengthening of the international multilateral mechanism with the United Nations at the core, the reform of the United Nations as well as the important role played by the United Nations and its secretary general in international affairs.

14-16 Russian President Vladimir Putin pays a state visit to China. When meeting the press after their talks on October 14, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Putin announced that China and Russia had signed the Supplementary Agreement on the Eastern Section of China-Russia Boundary Line, which, the two presidents said, meant that "following efforts by China and Russia for more than 40 years, the two countries have completed their border delimitation."

19 China launches its first professional geostationary orbit meteorological satellite, Fengyun 2C, from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

28 The People's Bank of China announces to raise the benchmark lending and deposit interest rates, lift the ceiling of RMB loan interest rates and allow a downward movement of RMB deposit interest rates as of October 29. The interest rate hike is the first in a decade since October 1994.