Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news

China's largest publicly-traded telecommunications equipment supplier, ZTE Corporation, has made a further foray into the European market with the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with France Telecom Group (FT) on Monday, today's www.sina.com.cn reported.
According to the agreement, the signatories will focus on telecom and information technology businesses.
The signing ceremony was co-hosted by French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Chinese Primier Wen Jiabao, who is in France on the first leg of his four-nation European tour.
At the ceremony, FT president and CEO Didier Lombard was confident about the deal, saying his group had long been committed to bringing advanced technological solutions to global clients.  It is based on this rationale that FT initialed this long-term partnership with ZTE, he said.
ZTE also views the cooperation as mutually advantageous.  Considering this partnership as being of greater significance than that between the companies covering equipment supply and outsourcing, its president Yin Yimin said it will solidify ZTE's strategic position in the European market. 
"FT will help ZTE to understand the demands of European customers so as to sharpen ZTE's competitiveness in Europe," he added.
FT is Europe's second largest operator of wireless networks, with brands including Range, Wanadoo, Equant and Globecast.
Prior to this partnership, ZTE and FT have carried out cooperation projects in broadband data businesses, 3G products and a training center.  To meet the demand for FT's global coverage of 50-plus countries, ZTE has established a work mechanism to coordinate its business in Europe.
Industry insiders see this ZTE-FT strategic alliance as ZTE's reposte to its old rival Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, which announced three months ago the signing of a global framework agreement with UK-based Vodafone Group Plc., the world's largest mobile telecom operator.
Huawei is China's largest telecom equipment supplier.