PARIS, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- China has transformed enormously in the past 40 years of its reform and opening-up, rediscovering its pride and strength, a French entrepreneur has said.

"It is very difficult to compare the China of 40 years ago with that of today," Alain Merieux, a French entrepreneur who was awarded the China Reform Friendship Medal last week in Beijing, told Xinhua in an interview.

The changes that have taken place in China are unimaginable for foreigners who don't understand China, said Merieux. "After a very difficult period of time, China rediscovered its pride and strength, and is playing a more and more important role around the world."

Merieux was among the first Westerners to collaborate with China in fighting against SARS and avian flu epidemics. He notably played a key role as the co-president of the Franco-Chinese Group on Emerging Infectious Diseases, and in the creation of the high-security research laboratory P4 launched at the end of 2014 in Wuhan, central China.

He helped expand the French cooperation with China in the public health field. "We signed an agreement with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences two years ago on the collaboration in Mali to fight against infectious diseases," said Merieux.

"We are also talking with Yunnan province about building a network of laboratories on epidemic risks for infectious diseases," he added. "With the support of the Pasteur Institutes and its overseas branches, among others, we are working together to fight against infectious diseases in the province, and eventually cover Southeast Asian countries such as Laos and Cambodia."

"It's an extraordinary privilege for me as a foreigner to have been a part of the evolution of China," said Merieux, who is also the president of the French Merieux Foundation. The foundation, which was founded by his father Charles Merieux in 1967, is a tribute to Alain's grandfather Marcel Merieux, student and assistant to Louis Pasteur known as the "father of microbiology."

The China Reform Friendship Medal, he said, "is a great pride and honor" for himself and his family, marking the history of their involvement in China.

Several members of his family had maintained good relations with China, which could be traced back to even before the official establishment of diplomatic relations between France and China in 1964. Among them, his father-in-law, Paul Berliet, was back then the first French businessman selling trucks to China.

Merieux paid his first visit to China in 1978. He told Xinhua that he "was deeply surprised to lecture an audience with an average age of 70 to 80."

"At that time universities in China had almost been empty. But now, I see the universities are full of extraordinarily active, brilliant young men and women," he said.

In the beginning of the 1980s, Merieux, then vice-president of the French Regional Council for the Rhones-Alpes (Eastern France), helped establish sister city ties between the Rhones-Alpes region and Shanghai.

In the 1980s and 90s, he visited China several times for promoting medical and health cooperation between France and China.

Merieux said he was deeply impressed by China's desire to narrow the development gap with Western countries.

"In 1987, in a university in Shanghai, I listened to a hematology course taught in French by Professor Wang Zhenyi. It was a moment of extraordinary emotions for me," he said.

"Professor Wang's student Chen Zhu, China's former minister of health, once told me that he hopes China's health reform, as General De Gaulle has said, will enable everyone to enjoy health services. He later told me that 97 percent of the Chinese population has access to essential medical care. China has basically completed this extraordinary task in 20 years," said Merieux.

Speaking of his receiving the reform friendship medal, he said, "It was my third time in China this year. I had the privilege to visit the exhibition on China's 40-year reform. I could see very concretely the evolution of China in 40 years in all domains including education, science and technology, transport, and its fight against pollution, etc."