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Sarkozy Offers Beijing Olive Branch after Olympic Protests
by
findingDulcinea Staff
French President Nicolas Sarkozy will send three representatives to China this week to bridge the diplomatic rift left by the Olympic protests in Paris.
30-Second Summary
The intensity of the demonstrations that greeted the Olympic torch's progress through Paris has caused China to single out France among Western nations as a target for counter-measures.
The image of wheelchair-bound Jin Jing—who has been called “smiling angel in a wheelchair” in China—guarding the torch from disorderly Parisian demonstrators proved so resonant among the Chinese citizenry that Sarkozy sent a written letter of apology to him on Monday.
Sarkozy’s efforts at conciliation follow last weekend’s anti-France rallies in China and talk of an unofficial boycott of French products.
So far Sarkozy has not said whether he will join German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in spurning the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. French business leaders have urged Sarkozy to attend.
Tara Gupta of The Times of India also warns against further inciting China, writing, “an image of China as a nation beset by unfair attacks might lead to it becoming even more hostile to the views of the Western world.”
In addition, Wu Zhong, China Editor of the Asia Times, believes that Beijing should not antagonize the West by boycotting France: “There are far better—and more rational—ways for the Chinese public to express discontent … over the Olympic torch relay and the Western press than by wrapping itself in nationalistic fervor.”
The image of wheelchair-bound Jin Jing—who has been called “smiling angel in a wheelchair” in China—guarding the torch from disorderly Parisian demonstrators proved so resonant among the Chinese citizenry that Sarkozy sent a written letter of apology to him on Monday.
Sarkozy’s efforts at conciliation follow last weekend’s anti-France rallies in China and talk of an unofficial boycott of French products.
So far Sarkozy has not said whether he will join German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in spurning the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. French business leaders have urged Sarkozy to attend.
Tara Gupta of The Times of India also warns against further inciting China, writing, “an image of China as a nation beset by unfair attacks might lead to it becoming even more hostile to the views of the Western world.”
In addition, Wu Zhong, China Editor of the Asia Times, believes that Beijing should not antagonize the West by boycotting France: “There are far better—and more rational—ways for the Chinese public to express discontent … over the Olympic torch relay and the Western press than by wrapping itself in nationalistic fervor.”
Headline Links: Sarkozy sends representatives to China
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is sending three envoys to China this week in order to ease the diplomatic tensions between the two nations. According to Voice of America, “France has borne the brunt of Chinese ire over the botched Olympic flame relays in Paris and in London by human rights and pro-Tibet protesters.”
Source: Voice of America
China Daily reports on the efforts of both France and China to mend relations between the two countries. According to China Daily, “China hoped that France would understand and support China's reasonable and necessary measures to safeguard social stability and to protect people's lives and property safety, Jiang said, urging that France should oppose politicizing the Olympic Games and support the Beijing Olympics.”
Source: China Daily
Background: The Paris leg of the relay and the Chinese response
Yesterday, Time magazine reported on the Chinese rallies against France that occurred over the weekend. The magazine also weighs the possibility of a large-scale boycott of French products, particularly the Carrefour hypermarket stores, a French company suspected of aiding the Dalai Lama. According to Time, “If Chinese consumers move to hit back by taking their business to non-French companies, the pressure on Sarkozy to back off is likely to grow.”
Source: Time
The Paris leg of the torch relay was so disrupted by protestors that Chinese authorities requested that part of the race be cut short. There were similar incidents during the London leg days before.
Source: findingDulcinea
Opinion & Analysis: The benefit of protest and boycott
Dominique Moisi, a founder and senior adviser at IFRI (French Institute for International Relations), writes in The Japanese Times that “sport and politics have always been closely linked.” Therefore, China’s plea not to mix the two by staging boycotts of the Olympics does not hold water. Moisi says, “Self-isolated from global political realities and incapable of grasping the meaning of ‘civil society,’ the Chinese regime encourages its public in expressions of defiance of all who fail to ‘respect China,’ which only reinforces negative reactions.”
Source: The Japan Times
Wu Zhong, China Editor of the Asia Times, argues against any Chinese boycotts of Western products. He says opposition to the boycotts has become taboo in China., “but the Chinese government must be aware that nationalism can become a double-edged sword. Taken to the extreme, nationalistic zeal can become narrow-minded, or even fanatic, xenophobia. If pushed too far, such a mindset could harm China's economic reform or even force the country to close its doors once again.”
Source: Asia Times
‘Chinese Have a Right to Protest’
An opinion in The Times of India says of the potential boycott in China, “These protests are as legitimate as those in Paris or London. Portraying the outcry as merely a sham is to ignore the danger that an alienated China poses to the world. If the Chinese are feeling offended, perhaps it is time for the rest of the world to try to understand their grievance.”
Source: The Times of India
Related Topics: Climate talks in China and musical diplomacy
‘EU Heads for Climate, Trade Talks with China’
The European Commission will send its “biggest-ever delegation to China” to discuss environmental and trade issues ahead of the summer Olympic games. Some studies place China as the number-one carbon dioxide emitter. It is also believed that the issues of Tibet and human rights will be brought up.
Source: The Guardian
Music could reconcile France-Chinese differences
China View reports that famous French musician Michel Ayroles will depart on Tuesday for a week-long tour of China with his orchestra to help improve French-Chinese relations. “Ayroles said he understood the indignation of the Chinese people in the face of the distorted media reports over the riots in Tibet and the disruption of the Olympic torch relay by Tibetan secessionists in Paris,” writes China View.
Source: China View
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