PARIS - CHINA said on Thursday it was 'delighted' that French President Nicolas Sarkozy would visit in spring, turning a page on two years of tense relations provoked by a pre-Beijing Olympics row over Tibet.

China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, on a trip to France, said 'we are delighted' that the French leader would visit in April or May to attend the Universal Exhibition in Shanghai.

'It is a new page in Sino-French relations", the foreign minister said. Mr Yang said Mr Sarkozy had told him 'France is ready to work with China to further promote the global strategic partnership' between the two countries.

The French leader stressed the importance of Sino-French cooperation especially to 'jointly fight the international financial crisis and climate change', the Chinese foreign minister said.

In December 2009 French Prime Minister Francois Fillon announced a thaw in relations during his visit to China, telling students the 'misunderstandings' between Paris and Beijing were a thing of the past. Ties between the two nations deteriorated in 2008 when pro-Tibet protesters disrupted the Paris leg of China's around-the-world Olympic torch relay.

They hit a low point in December the same year when Mr Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, whom Beijing accuses of seeking independence for the Himalayan region - a claim the monk denies. Mr Yang said on Thursday that China's President Hu Jintao would also visit France in 2010.