An executive for a French defense giant that operates in China said that safeguarding the company's technology is important, but the effort is no barrier to his firm's success there.

Speaking to CNBC at the China Development Forum in Beijing, Laurent Guyot, CEO of Thales China, reframed the issue to place it outside the hot-button topic of "technology transfer."

"The new rule of success is to co-develop in China," he said. "It's to generate technology from China together with Chinese partners. In that case, we don't talk about transfer of technology — we talk about building value in China, for China and also for the group."

"When you follow this kind of approach, good partners, localization of technologies, I think you can get all the benefits of being there," he said.

Thales makes everything from warship electronics and unmanned aerial vehicles to satellite communications equipment and radar technology. It has operated in China for more than 30 years.