If the history of Anglo-French relations began with the signing of a friendly agreement on April 8, 1904, then the situation does not look too bad. This agreement eased the relationship between the two colonial rivals, prompted them to form an alliance with Germany in two world wars, and finally carried out slightly competitive cooperation within the EU.

The problem is that most British and French people only know the word "friendly agreement", but they don't believe it. Therefore, Queen Elizabeth II paid an official visit to France this week to commemorate the 0/00th anniversary of the signing of this agreement, which reminded us of the similarities and differences between these two neighboring countries.

For Britain, since 1066, for France, since the Hundred Years' War, the governments and people of Britain and France have been jealous and hostile to each other. (1066, the Duke of Normandy crossed the sea to conquer England and seize the throne of England. 1337, the British king coveted the French throne and the "Hundred Years' War" broke out. France later turned defeat into victory and ended the war in 1453)

The relationship between the two countries has changed fundamentally, but it is still because of the friendly agreement, but because the Normandy landing 60 years ago convinced the French that the United States is now the undisputed leader of the English-speaking world (for the French, it is the Anglo-Saxon world).

Thus, since 1956, when Britain withdrew its troops from the Suez Canal under the pressure of the United States, a fundamental asymmetry has shaped the cross-strait relations in the English Channel: today, France looks west and regards the United States rather than Britain as its opponent; Looking eastward, Britain still believes that France controls and sometimes hinders the relationship between Britain and Europe.

Today, the relationship between French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair illustrates this problem to some extent. They are tit for tat on the Iraq issue. Surprisingly, many British people agree with Chirac's anti-war stance and criticize Blair's pro-American stance. However, almost equally disturbing to the government, Chirac obviously prefers to form a strategic alliance with Germany rather than Britain in Europe.

The cross-channel tunnel tells a different story. Today, 57% of the passengers on the Eurostar express train are British, while only 26% are French. In other words, the British love France and its cities, villages and living arts. However, for the French, although British taxes are low and London is full of vitality as a financial center, relatively few French people visit Britain.

Elizabeth II's trip to France gave the British and French media an opportunity to evaluate how these two distant neighbors viewed each other. The result is not surprising. Liberation, a center-left daily newspaper in Paris, published a photo of a big frog on the front page with the title "I love you, and I don't love you either".

The survey results of polling agency BVA-ICM may be more telling. When asked what they appreciate most, 80% of British respondents chose French art and culture, while 69% of British people still like French food, and only 6% of French people praise it.