Chinese may boycott French products

Attacks on torchbearers like Jin Jing have angered many Chinese

The fiasco surrounding the Olympic torch relay may threaten trade as some Chinese citizens call for a boycott of some Western products. Angered at the scenes in Paris in which one protest attacked a wheelchair bound torch bearer, some are calling for a boycott on French products. France has strong economic ties to China with hundreds of branches of Carrefour throughout the country and an ever increasing wine trade. The Ming Pao Daily reports that some Chinese want to fight boycotts with boycotts. Though the leaders of the Tibetan movement, including the Dalai Lama have not called for a boycott of the Olympic Games, the Ming Pao reports that some are calling on all Chinese people and their government to not go as tourists to European countries, especially France and Germany, which have been opened up to Chinese tourists for the last three years.The boycott call also targets French products. There is even a list on the Internet of products to boycott. It includes Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Citroen and Air France. Coca Cola has also been singled out for ire. Though Coke is an Olympics sponsor, it ran an advertisement featuring three monks on a roller coaster under its slogan “Make it Real.” A Chinese blogger on the popular Tianya website read that to mean “Make (Freedom) Real,” the roller coasters representing freedom.

Hollywood star, Jackie Chan has criticised the ‘China bashing’ that has dominated much of the Western media. He told CNN that for the Chinese the “Olympics are a big thing” but the criticism of China is disproportionate and not doesn’t only apply to China. With regards pollution and human rights Chan says, “it’s not just a problem in China, it’s a whole world problem”.
“So many countries don’t have human rights but everyone’s just against China, that’s not fair” Chan said in an interview for CNN’s Talk Asia which airs in full on Saturday [15:00 GMT]. The actor who has a long career in Hollywood said that China has changed but needs more time to accomplish more. “It can’t happen in one day, we know China change in all those years. We slowly change, slowly change. We know the problem, the China government know the problem, we have 1.4 billion people there’s so many people in China” he said.

Meanwhile the man at the centre of the controversy that has embroiled China arrived in the US today. The Dalai Lama touched down at Seattle airport where he is on a five day sponsored visit organised by the Seeds of Compassion [Seattle Times]. As the Buddhist monk arrived in the US, the Olympic torch arrived in Buenos Aires on Friday. It is the ninth stop on its 33 day world tour which will later arrive in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Today’s relay which will see 80 torchbearers take the Olympic torch along a 14 km route sets off at 17:00 GMT [CNN].