French leader to attend Olympics opener

By JOHN LEICESTER – 2 hours ago

PARIS (AP) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to snub China but then backed down with barely a whimper.

His decision to attend the opening of the Beijing Olympics, having previously suggested he might boycott the event, reflects how China is increasingly getting its way as it grows into a major power.

Sarkozy realized it was risky to anger the Asian giant — especially if you want to keep selling it planes, power plants and other goods. Last month, as his position started to shift, Sarkozy cautioned that a boycott could "push a population of 1.3 billion people into wounded nationalism."

The way the usually media-hungry Sarkozy announced his intention to attend the Aug. 8 ceremony — via a brief statement Wednesday, away from TV cameras — spoke volumes about French desires to cool Chinese passions, following tensions centered on the Olympics and Tibet.

Sarkozy had been the first world leader to raise the possibility of skipping the ceremony to protest China's crackdown in Tibet after riots and protests there in March. That would have been a slap in the face to China's communist leadership, eager to use the Games to show off the country's power and clout.

But the statement Wednesday from Sarkozy's office, issued after he met with Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit of industrialized powers in Japan, made no mention of Tibet, human rights or the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. It said France wants to "deepen its strategic partnership with China" — which is a major client for European plane manufacturer Airbus, as well as French companies from nuclear giant Areva to transport and engineering company Alstom.

Critics of China's human rights failings decried Sarkozy's climb-down. Robert Menard, head of media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, who has played a vocal role in protesting torch relays for the Beijing Games, accused Sarkozy of "betraying values of democracy."

Sarkozy's decision was pilloried at a debate Wednesday at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

"The Chinese Communist Party is prevailing, the tougher they get, the more you sink to your knees," said German Green member Daniel Cohn-Bendit.

"Europe has capitulated," said Edward McMillan Scott, a British Conservative. "This is an arbitrary, paranoid and brutal regime. We should keep politics away from sport, we should keep Sarkozy away from Beijing."

The parliament's president, Hans-Gert Poettering, said he will boycott the ceremony because of a lack of progress in talks between China and the Dalai Lama's representatives.

Sarkozy was defended in the assembly by his minister for Europe, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, who said the decision to attend was taken after talks with other EU leaders. Sarkozy will represent both France and the European Union at the Games. France currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"Do we really want a cold dialogue between two antagonistic blocs?" Jouyet asked. "We need to have a broad global dialogue with China."

Hu, the Chinese president, called Sarkozy's decision "correct," according to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Like Sarkozy, U.S. President George W. Bush has decided to attend. He said this week it would be an "affront to the Chinese people" if he stayed away. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he will skip the opener but attend the closer. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper have said they plan to stay away.

Jean-Vincent Brisset, a French expert on China who formerly served as military attache in Beijing, said Sarkozy put himself in a position of weakness by never saying clearly, early on, whether he would attend or boycott and by since seeking to patch up France's ties with Beijing.

"China only respects positions of strength," said Brisset, a research director at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations think-tank in Paris. "We have a long tradition of weakness toward China."

More clouds lie ahead: Sarkozy has said he could meet this summer with the Dalai Lama, despite China's displeasure. China's ambassador to Paris said such a meeting could have "serious" consequences. He, in turn, got a ticking off Wednesday from France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner. Kouchner's spokesman said the minister told the ambassador that France would reject "pressures wherever they come from."

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