BEIJING, Feb 26 (AFP) - China will turn "grief into strength" as it persists with the reforms instituted by late patriarch Deng Xiaoping, Chinese President Jiang Zemin said Wednesday.

Speaking in an interview with Serge Berthier, Asia regional head of the French magazine "International Politics," Jiang said, "in the past few days we have been plunged into extreme grief.

"We will turn grief into strength with practical actions to cherish our memory of Comrade Deng Xiaoping," the Xinhua news agency reported Jiang as saying.

Deng died last Wednesday aged 92.

Jiang said China would keep to the road pioneered by Deng, continuing to push forward reform, opening up and the modernization drive, Xinhua said.

It would also pursue its independent foreign policy, develop and strengthen friendly and cooperative relations with all other countries, he added.

Jiang made a positive review of Sino-French relations saying Deng had worked and studied for six years in France when he was young as had many other Chinese leaders.

"This shows that the two countries have a long-standing history of exchanges," he said.

China and France had enjoyed "fruitful cooperation" in the political, economic, cultural, and scientific and technological fields over the past 30-odd years since the two countries were linked diplomatically, he noted.

Jiang said he was looking forward to a visit to China by President Jacques Chirac, with a view to promoting the friendly cooperation, Xinhua said without giving any rpoposed dates.

Jiang made a state visit to France in September 1994, and Chinese Premier Li Peng made an official visit to France in April last year.

"I hope that the two countries can establish a long-term and stable cooperative relationship into the 21st century," Jiang stressed.

Xinhua also said Jiang answered Berthier's questions related to China's political system and the issues of Taiwan and Tibet, but gave no details.