Paris honours Dalai Lama, Sarkozy woos China

by cynthia yoo | April 21, 2008 at 01:20 pm | 554 views | 8 comments

by czqs2000

by czqs2000

It looks like the governments of France and of Paris are working at cross-purposes.

The Dalai Lama has been made an honorary citizen of Paris, as anti-French protests continue in China. Paris city council voted to bestow the symbolic title on the Tibetan spiritual leader, whom Mayor Bertrand Delanoe called "a champion of peace".

On the other hand, Sarkozy has been busy mending fences with China.

The gesture came as France's president expressed sympathy for a disabled Chinese athlete who was jostled by a pro-Tibetan activist as she held the Olympic torch in Paris.

In a letter to 27-year-old Paralympian fencer Jin Jing, Nicolas Sarkozy told her she had shown "outstanding courage" in the face of the assault.

"I want to assure you that the incidents staged by a few people on this sad day don't reflect the feelings of my fellow countrymen for the Chinese people," Mr Sarkozy wrote.

This comes after a string of anti-French protests by the Chinese.

The Paris incident was the catalyst that sparked an outburst of anti-French protests in China. Online activists there have spent weeks urging a boycott of French goods. Over the weekend thousands of people demonstrated outside Carrefour stores in China.

One interest side-bar to these protests is the story of Jin Jing, the Paralympian fencer who received the Sarkozy letter. Following the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay, she was heralded as a national hero for attempting to shield the torch from the Tibetan protesters. But a few short weeks later, Jin Jing has been branded a traitor in China for merely suggesting that the Chinese should be careful about the Carrefour protest because many Chinese employees of the supermarket chain might suffer the fall-out. Her story highlights the volatility of Chinese public opinion and that the road to Beijing 2008 will undoubtedly continue to be a bumpy ride.

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walterdoe

at 15:01 on April 21st, 2008

From my series, "Soapbox Gallery," this is the Dalai Lama presented as ironically out-of-character. Cheers!

walterdoe has contributed a photo to this story.

Jarrett Martineau

at 15:10 on April 21st, 2008

good stuff:

cynthia yoo, I like this story. It's good stuff.

jaurez

at 15:16 on April 21st, 2008

cool! ... proud of our mayor betrand delanoë !! since WWII paris learns to take a stance when a stance needs to be taken.

teenkertoy

at 18:28 on April 21st, 2008

This photo was taken on The Embarcadero in San Francisco during an anti-china rally before the Olympic Torch relay was to begin. The police could not regain control of the street which was the original published route for the relay, so the entire route was changed. Many people were upset about the torch playing hide-and-go-seek with the public, but it was the crowds that were responsible for the route having to be changed. There was a healthy mix of pro-China and anti-China folk, and the day was very peaceful for the most part. Officials reported only three arrests were made in the city during the event which is a technical victory for the city and Olympic Torch relay itself, but there was much unrest when news spread that the route had been changed and thousands of people would be unable to see the torch at all, many traveling great distances and waiting for many hours to view a glimpse of the special event.

teenkertoy has contributed a photo to this story.

Bill J

at 19:55 on April 21st, 2008

His Holiness The Dalai Lama was very happy to be in Seattle. Seattle loves him. i wish China would understand we are not stupid, and the media has not created his popularity and our understanding of what is going on in Tibet. The 1200 monasteries destroyed years ago was not media created. The Chinese Olympics are ruined, and never should have been there in the first place.

Bill J has contributed a photo to this story.

evanvoo

at 23:47 on April 21st, 2008

evanvoo has contributed a photo to this story.

roger.blum

at 01:02 on April 28th, 2008

This photo - and a number of others showing the preparatifs - was taken by September 1976 in the so called Western World Tibet, i.e. Ladakh (India) during the great "Kalachakra initiation" event.

roger.blum has contributed a photo to this story.

czqs2000

at 09:44 on May 13th, 2008

protest of anti-carrfour in hefei (China), the banner says "protect torch,love CHINA"

czqs2000 has contributed a photo to this story.