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Sarko Too Nice to China: Critics

Posted Apr 23, 08 9:01 PM CDT in World    Editor's Choice

(Newser) – Paris seems to have reversed a tide of anti-French sentiment in China, but critics wonder if President Nicolas Sarkozy’s charm offensive has undermined his country’s commitment to human rights, Der Spiegel reports. Since Sarkozy’s messages of conciliation have gone out, China’s Foreign Ministry has praised the French president and state media has reversed its criticism of recently boycotted supermarket chain Carrefour.

"A few calls for a boycott of a French supermarket in China were enough to cause President Nicolas Sarkozy's commitment to human rights to falter badly,” writes Die Tageszeitung. “Sarkozy has shown that he is prepared to grovel,” writes Berliner Zeitung, “and has maneuvered himself into a position of weakness, where it is now possible to blackmail him."

Source Der Spiegel

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France's President Nicolas Sarkozy attends the funeral memorial service for the late French Martinican poet and politician Aime Cesaire at Pierre Aliker stadium in Fort de France, Martinique, Sunday,...   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
French Senate President Christian Poncelet, left, hands over President Nicolas Sarkozy's sympathy note to Chinese torch bearer Jin Jing, right, in Shanghai, east China, on Monday April 21, 2008.   (AP Photo/Xinhua, Fan Jun)
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, and Shanghai Communist Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng shake hands before a meeting Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007 in Shanghai, China.   (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
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China  • France  • Nicolas Sarkozy  • 2008 Beijing Olympics  • Olympic boycotts  • Opening Ceremony


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