PARIS — France’s government scrambled Monday to tamp down tensions with Beijing and calm anti-French sentiment that has swelled in China since pro-Tibet protesters disrupted the Olympic torch relay in Paris.
President Nicolas Sarkozy dispatched his top diplomatic adviser to China, where a French retail giant has become a boycott target, and he sent an emotional letter to a disabled Chinese athlete who struggled from her wheelchair against a Paris protester trying to wrench the Olympic torch from her.
In his letter to “Mademoiselle Jin Jing,” Sarkozy noted the “bitterness” felt in China over the incident and insisted that several such attacks by protesters during the April 7 Paris torch stopover “do not reflect the feelings of my countrymen toward the Chinese people.”
“You have shown remarkable courage that does you honor — and through you, honor to your country,” he said.
But even as the national government tried to soften the tone, the Paris City Council took a step likely to anger China. It voted Monday to bestow the title of “honorary citizen” on the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled leader, as well as Hu Jia, a Chinese rights activist.
Chinese outrage over what their media portray as foreign interference in Tibet fanned protests across China over the weekend, some targeting stores of the French supermarket chain Carrefour.
Sarkozy has threatened to shun the Olympic Games’ opening ceremony in Beijing and has conditioned his presence on China’s opening dialogue with the Dalai Lama.
