CHINA: France will give China a $370-million...

CHINA: France will give China a $370-million loan this year for five major projects, including a new Citroen automobile plant, according to an agreement signed last week. The loan is the largest France has ever given China, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. France joined other industrialized nations in banning high-level visits and imposing economic sanctions against China after its June, 1989, crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing. But relations have improved since November, when the European Community, of which France is a member, lifted most sanctions. France ended its ban on loans last December, when it restored official lines of credit to China for French-managed projects. The new loan will be used to build a joint-venture Citroen plant, an airport, a power generating plant, a water processing plant and a gas regulation project.