Sarkozy Pressured to Backpedal on China

Washington's pique at France's refusal to support the Iraq invasion was played out in such milquetoast gestures as renaming the fried potato sticks served in the congressional cafeteria as "Freedom Fries," but Chinese citizens angry at France are being a little more forceful. On Monday a new wave of demonstrations unfolded across China in response to what many Chinese regard as the insult dished out by French human rights protesters who disrupted the April 7 Olympic torch relay in Paris — and the veiled threat by President Nicolas Sarkozy to boycott the Games' opening ceremony in August. Anti-France rallies had been staged across China over the weekend, often converging on French-owned Carrefour hypermarket stores, to denounce what protesters called Paris's support of Tibetan nationalists. After pro-Tibet demonstrators reduced the Paris leg of the torch relay to a farce by trying to snatch the flame from runners, calls circulated in China via the Internet and mobile phone messages to boycott French corporations. That surging anti-French sentiment across China now has many French business leaders fearing the effects of a looming boycott, and expressing sympathy with Chinese complaints.

"You have to understand that a large part of the Chinese population was very shocked by the incidents that dogged the passage of the Olympic torch in Paris," warned José Luis Duran, president of Carrefour in the weekly Journal du Dimanche paper Sunday. Duran also firmly refuted rumors circulating in China that his group funded or supported the Dalai Lama, and elsewhere said that the talk of a consumer boycott notwithstanding, Carrefour had seen no drop in activity in the 112 stores it operates in China serving around 2 million customers daily. To keep it that way, Duran also claimed to share Chinese dismay over the protest-marred torch run in Paris. "When I saw the images of it, I wasn't proud," Duran told the paper. "Everyone may demonstrate their convictions as they see fit. But attacking the symbol of the flame, and the athletes is contrary to Olympic values."

Several other French business leaders echoed those sentiments, although they also reported no falloff in turnover as yet in response to boycott calls. France turned over $6.45 billion in trade with China in 2007 alone. French business leaders have urged Sarkozy not to boycott the opening ceremony, as he had left open the possibility of doing in order to press his demand for "the resumption of dialogue between representatives of the Dalai Lama and Chinese authorities".

"Boycotting a part of the Olympics is not a solution", CEO of luxury goods giant LVMH — and Sarko pal — Bernard Arnault told the daily Le Figaro. "China needs time. If we want to dialogue with it, there are better ways than attacking the Olympic flame when it passes in Western cities ... We must avoid giving lessons as long as there are things we can improve in the world, and even at home in Europe."

Although Sarkozy continues to insist he'll decide whether to attend the opening ceremonies based on how the situation in Tibet and China evolves, he also just as clearly wants to avoid the ire currently building up against French companies doing business in China. That's why Sarkozy is sending placating, even apologetic messages via traveling French officials to China this week, including a note of praise to a handicapped torch-bearer who kept protesters from snatching the Olympic flame from her in Paris. Another emissary will deliver a letter to Chinese authorities from former French President Jacques Chirac, whose courting of China made him a popular figure there.

But at least one French China expert warns against softening Sarkozy's line. "France, under Sarkozy, has taken the pliable, cordial line, and the Chinese don't respect that at all," says Jean-Vincent Brisset, director of research at the Institute of Strategic and International Relations. "The British have always taken strong stands on China, and they've gotten respect in return. Even Germany is being taken more seriously by China now that Madame Merkel has spoken out strongly on Tibet — and even said flatly she won't attend the opening ceremonies. France keeps trying to flatter China, which Beijing punishes as weakness." But 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.