China's state-controlled media on Thursday extensively reported on the results of an opinion poll that suggests the vast majority of Chinese do not want French President Nicolas Sarkozy to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. The survey of 173,527 people polled on the Chinese news and information website Sina.com showed that 89 percent of respondents do not want Sarkozy to attend the event after he said he would come if progress were made in talks held this week between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama's envoys in Beijing. About 88 percent of those surveyed also said they found Sarkozy's remarks about China 'extremely unfriendly' and 'not fit for a leader of a major developed country,' China's tightly controlled state media reported.
The publicity given to the poll comes after Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said earlier this week that the government rejects any attempt to link the Olympic Games with China's internal politics.
'The Tibet issue falls into China's internal affairs. The contact between the central government and the private representatives of the Dalai Lama is also an internal affair of China,' he told reporters. 'We oppose relevant foreign leaders meeting with the Dalai (Lama) in any form, linking Tibet-related issues with the Beijing Olympics, and politicizing the Olympics.'
The latest apparent spat between China and France comes after a series of protest were held around the country earlier this year because of the French authorities' perceived failure to protect the Olympic flame when it was attacked by pro-Tibet demonstrators during the torch relay in Paris in April. Sarkozy wrote a personal letter expressing sympathy to a wheelchair- bound Chinese athlete who fought off a protester who tried to grab the Olympic torch out of her hands during the event.
Most of the anti-French protests in China earlier this year were held outside branches of the French retailer Carrefour before Chinese authorities took active steps to halt the demonstrations. Among the dignitaries who have said they will attend the Olympics opening ceremony on Aug. 8 is Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
Lol, and all this while official France whored itself silly during that 'Year of china', a couple years ago, with the Eiffel tower lighted red and all...