With a huge market, emphasis on innovation and continuous opening-up, China is becoming a priority market, said France-based global aviation giant Thales.

Pascale Sourisse, senior executive vice president of Thales, told Xinhua they are fully confident in both the future opportunities in the Chinese market and their performance growth.

Sourisse attended the opening ceremony of the 2nd China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai and flew to Beijing the next day, where Thales signed three strategic agreements with its Chinese partners, ranging from air traffic management to physics research.

"The CIIE was really a fascinating experience to meet with other partners and stakeholders from all over the world," said Sourisse, when describing Thales' first ever participation in the CIIE.

Noting that the expo demonstrated China's commitment to a new round of high-level opening-up, Thales' participation in the CIIE showed their confidence in China's future development.

China is expected to become the largest market in civil aviation, Sourisse said, adding that the country's growing demand and the company's technical prowess will reap tangible benefits for both sides.

Innovation is another magnet for Sourisse. "China has a very dynamic innovation environment. We noticed that many Chinese young people who graduated from renowned universities choose to become engineers compared with other countries, which provides a talent pool for multinationals like Thales," she said.

In addition, China's wider opening-up contributed to the company's rapid growth as well, according to Sourisse, who travels to China several times a year.

"For example, the introduction of the foreign investment law, aiming to better protect the legitimate rights of foreign businesses, especially on the protection of intellectual property, will afford a more favorable environment to international companies," Sourisse said.

She is looking forward to exploring more of the potential offered by bilateral cooperation as well as deepening cooperation with Chinese partners in the aviation and communication system sectors.

As a global leader in civil solutions, digital identity and security, Thales has developed in China for almost 40 years. Today it owns eight offices, three joint ventures and two innovation centers in China.

"Thales will continue to increase investment in R&D and develop our innovation hubs in China to inject more vitality into our innovation," Sourisse said.