France–singled out by China as the chief instigator of the dispute–dispatched three top officials to Beijing to make amends. The president of the European Union Commission, who was also in Beijing at the weekend, reiterated Europe’s support for China’s territorial integrity…

And yet, despite the public smiles, the clash between China and Europe has left deep scars on both sides. For it provided a painful reminder of a stark fact: Despite booming economic links, the two sides simply do not understand each other. Both China and Europe committed fundamental errors of judgment which transformed a relatively minor difference into a very bruising confrontation…

The lessons from this episode are obvious. Beijing’s diplomats are resourceful and more than capable of putting forward reasonable arguments. But when an unexpected crisis erupts inside China, these diplomats are invariably pushed aside. Harder men, with no sensitivity for world public opinion and an obsession with “fighting splittism” or “crushing enemies”, come to the fore instead.

© Wu Nan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beijing, Boycott Carrefour, EU relations, Paris, Tibet
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China is seeking to calm anti-France sentiment among its people in the wake of the tumultuous Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay, which has made France the target of a nationalist campaign in China.

Seeing the pro-Tibet protests and chaos surrounding the torch run in Paris as an affront to China, the nationalists have held their own demonstrations and called for boycott of the French retailer Carrefour as well as French products. Chinese media Wednesday published a statement from the commerce ministry that sought to rehabilitate Carrefour in the eyes of the Chinese. Carrefour has been accused of having links with exiled Tibetans, but the ministry said it welcomed the chain’s statement denying that it supports political groups but does back the Beijing Olympic Games.

Read also: China Frowns on Patriotic Protests by Austin Ramzy of Time magazine:

China’s surge in public displays of patriotism — which has blossomed after the rocky reception of the Olympic torch in Europe and the U.S. — is a dilemma for Beijing. The government relies on patriotism to bolster its support now that socialism has disappeared as a unifying ideology. But expressions of strong nationalist sentiment can also lead to people protesting against the central government. “In crisis periods what often happens, and has happened throughout the 20th century, is that these foreign problems very quickly become domestic problems,” says William Callahan, a China expert at the University of Manchester in the U.K. “People ask why the Chinese government isn’t reacting more strongly to what is seen as foreign provocation.”

© Kate Zhao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: anti-france, Boycott Carrefour, Olympics torch, Tibet protests
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Apparently, this slogan is playing off on the alleged historical sign: “No Chinese Or Dogs Allowed” at the entrance of a park in foreign-leased-territory in Shanghai. For more on this history, please read here and here.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: anti-west slogans, Boycott Carrefour, France, nationalism, Shandong
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