By STACY MEICHTRY
PARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign to calm Chinese anger over the Olympic torch’s rough-and-tumble journey through the French capital faces one big obstacle: the French.
Mr. Sarkozy has tapped three top French officials, including a former prime minister, to travel to China this week to mend relations. He has sent letters to President Hu Jintao of China and athlete Jin Jing, known as “angel in a wheelchair” in China for shielding the Olympic torch from pro-Tibetan protesters as she carried it through the streets of Paris.
Those diplomatic gestures, however, risk being drowned out by French voices hostile to Chinese policies, ranging from Beijing’s actions in Tibet to its restrictions on press freedom.
As Mr. Sarkozy was launching his charm offensive on Monday, the city of Paris named the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, and Hu Jia, a recently jailed Chinese dissident, “honorary citizens.”
China’s foreign ministry, in a statement by spokeswoman Jiang Yu, denounced Paris’s embrace of the Dalai Lama as “another serious provocation of the 1.3 billion Chinese people, including Tibetans.” Ms. Jiang called on “the French side” to take “immediate and effective measures to eliminate the vile influence caused by the French side’s erroneous misdeed” in honoring the Dalai Lama. Such action is unlikely in Paris, a city with a proud tradition of public protest.
Lionel Bordeaux, a spokesman for Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, said the decision to honor the Dalai Lama was final and widely supported by the French public. “They agree with the mayor and are happy to hear a very clear position,” he said.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has entered the fray, urging China to talk with the Dalai Lama about recent anti-Chinese protests in Tibet. Paris-based media-rights group Reporters Without Borders was among those to initiate what has since become a global protest against the Beijing Games when it unfurled a banner at the torch-lighting ceremony in Olympia, Greece, last month. The group has urged Mr. Sarkozy to stay away from the opening ceremonies. He hasn’t said whether he will attend.
When the torch arrived in Paris, the media-rights group scaled monuments around Paris, including Notre Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower, to display massive banners depicting the Olympic rings as interlinked handcuffs. Vincent Brossel, a spokesman for the group, says it has no intention of dialing down the pressure on Beijing.
The torch relay made an appearance Tuesday in Indonesia, where police briefly detained at least eight people and seized flags from pro-Tibet activists, the Associated Press reported. The procession was held before a small, invitation-only crowd in the main sports stadium in Jakarta, the capital, instead of running through the city streets as originally planned.
Mr. Sarkozy’s effort to reduce tensions with China is supported by French business leaders. Luxury mogul Bernard Arnault, the country’s richest man, has denounced the Paris protests and expressed support for the Games.
French retailer Carrefour SA, which was targeted by thousands of protesters in several Chinese cities over the weekend, has also given its support to the Beijing Olympics. China’s state-run television station CCTV quoted an official from the country’s commerce ministry as thanking Carrefour for supporting the Games.
–Jason Dean in Beijing contributed to this article.
Write to Stacy Meichtry at stacy.meichtry@wsj.com
