He hopes, no less, to reform the international monetary system, develop mechanisms to prevent excess volatility in commodity markets and modify international institutions, where major decisions are made, so that they more accurately reflect the political and economic realities of today’s world.
The international monetary system has not evolved since 1945 and Bretton Woods, the French President told AFP. Then, there was but one major economy, the US, and one principle currency, the Dollar. You can imagine the complexity of the new system that should replace it. It is France’s ambition to ensure that everyone shows the willingness to discuss establishing a new system guaranteeing international stability.
It is preferable to try and create a new system fit for the twenty first century then to continue trading barbs about the current situation, he added.
In order to try and accomplish these major reforms, Nicholas Sarkozy will need help and is counting on the Chinese to support his positions, that may not be so palatable to the US, principle beneficiary of the current system.
As such, The French President hosted his counterpart in Paris and Nice last week.
Hu Jintao came to France on a three-day state visit, and was greeted at Orly Airport
by Sarkozy himself, accompanied by his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
The Chinese President was also invited to a formal dinner at the Elysée Palace.
To ensure that everything went smoothly, the state visit did not include any press conferences. As a result, the Chinese President did not have to field any embarrassing questions regarding Nobel Peace Prize recipient Liu Xiaobo, or the appalling human rights situation in China.
That evidently, was one of the prerequisites in order to obtain Chinese support for the French G-20 agenda.
Some countries in the G-20 weigh more than others. Nothing can be achieved today without the agreement of China, a senior French official told the NYT.
The next day, the two leaders who were meeting this time in Nice agreed to promote the reform of the international financial system, according to the Chinese news website cri.cn.
Yet, it remains to be seen how far the Chinese will go, for such a reform could entail a reevaluation of the yuan, a major demand of the US and EU.
Chinese prosperity has been principally fueled by the export of Chinese goods abroad, rendered highly competitive due to what many consider an undervalued currency.
A reevaluation would undoubtedly undermine the allure of Chinese goods, currently accounting for 12.3% of all international exports, up from 7% in 2000.
Another objective of the state visit is to boost trade between France and China, currently valued at but 40 billion Euros per year.
Both presidents hope to double that figure by 2015.
Some 16 billion Euros worth of contracts were signed between France and China during the visit.
Airbus sold 102 aircrafts to Chinese airlines, a deal worth some $14 billion.
The French nuclear giant Areva won a 2.5 billion Euro contract to provide 20,000 tons of uranium to the Chinese electrical company CGNPC.
The French oil company Total will invest some 2 billion Euros in a petrochemical plant in China.
Alcatel-Lucent also signed three contacts with Chinese mobile phone operators, worth over one billion Euros.
These transactions however, should do little to blunt China’s 22 billion Euro trade surplus with France (the deficit stood at 5.7 billion in 2007).
China sells the French mostly textile and clothes, but also more and more mobiles and computers…
France’s share of the Chinese market is modest if not insignificant: 1.3%, much less than Germany…
In France however, some were upset by the fact that Nicholas Sarkozy was so accommodating during the visit.
Reporteurs sans Frontières, a French human rights organization that defends press freedom demonstrated its disapproval. As Hu Jintao’s car was driving up the Champs-Elysées on Friday morning, several activists waved open umbrellas on which Free Liu Xiaobo was written.
They were promptly rounded up by the police and taken to the local precinct.
The organization’s secretary general, Jean François Julliard, was indignant.
It is simply inconceivable that France, birthplace of human rights, should not even mention the plight of Chinese dissidents, victims of systematic government repression against democracy activists. How can President Sarkozy go back on his word thus?
During the 2007 campaign, he had vowed to place human rights at the center of his diplomacy, he declared in a statement posted on RSF’s website.
Some twenty French professors of Chinese also sent a letter to Sarkozy asking him to intervene in order to secure the freedom of Liu Xiaobo and all other political prisoners.
China has only intensified its pressure on pro-democracy and free speech activists since the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to Liu.
So far, the Chinese Communist Party’s response has been to harass, arrest or confine dozens of dissidents to their homes, wrote Tom Lasseter, of McClatchy Newspapers.
Liu’s friends are particularly under pressure.
They said Liu Xiaobo is a criminal and we should not spread information about criminals, Wu Wei told McClatchy.
The situation is getting really bad, Yu Jie, a writer and friend of Liu, told the NYT.
A prominent Chinese human rights lawyer, Pu Zhiqiang is still under police surveillance. Police officers accused him of being a running dog for the Western countries and a traitor to the motherland.
It is the very notion of freedom of speech that the Beijing autocrats cannot tolerate.
Allowing criticism of the government would quickly sap its authority, undermine its legitimacy, expose its corruptions and moral bankruptcy and lead to its downfall.
The repression against all those brave enough to demand this right is therefore fierce.
The biggest threat to this government is freedom of speech. They don’t like Liu’s ideas about being able to criticize the government, Li Fangping, also a human rights lawyer, told McClatchy.
The police know these people are not going to cause the collapse of the Communist Party. They persecute these activists because they are people who can spread the news within Chinese society, Nicolas Bequelin, of HRW, told the NYT.
In addition, the Chinese government still hopes to blunt the impact abroad of Liu’s Nobel Peace Prize by urging EU governments to boycott the ceremony next month.
It also demands that, contrary to custom, they issue no congratulatory message to the recipient. One diplomat was not surprised, you could expect it, because if you look at their reaction, it’s been unreasonable. It’s not something that looks very good, but it is something that it seems they cannot understand, he told the NYT.
Did Nicholas Sarkozy strike the right tone and balance during the visit, or should he have publicly challenged his host on China’s human rights record?
President Hu Jintao is someone you can talk to. There are many differences of opinion between the Chinese and the French, but we discussed all the issues. There are no taboos, particularly on the human rights question. We have values to defend and we defend them while also respecting our partners, and understanding that their culture is different from ours, that they have come a long way and that we must encourage them to open up further, the French President declared.
Yet, the Chinese did not intend to discuss Liu Xiaobo or the human rights question. This is not an issue that should be discussed between France and China, Fu Ying, China’s deputy Foreign minister said.
France’s Foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner begged to differ however.
Both presidents discussed this matter and yours truly spent an hour-and-a half with Yang Jiechi, the Chinese Foreign minister, discussing human rights issues, and in particular, the dissident winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, he told the French radio RTL.
We have to believe Mr. Kouchner for no public statements on the important issue were made by either party.
Did Sarkozy make too many concessions therefore, in order to obtain future Chinese political support and significant economic deals?
Alas, the answer is yes…
At the outset of his presidency, Nicholas Sarkozy had a bolder and much more ambitious approach to China. He had told the Chinese that he would boycott the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games if the Chinese government did not initiate a dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Riots had erupted in Tibet against Chinese repressive rule in March.
The Chinese were furious, accusing Sarkozy, who had publicly met with the Tibetan ruler, of supporting the latter’s separatist activities, and of attempting to sabotage the Games.
In addition, Tibetan and human rights activists took advantage of the Olympic torch relay in Paris to demonstrate against the Chinese regime in front of the world’s cameras…
During a scuffle between the activists and the police, a handicapped Chinese athlete participating in the relay, Jin Jing, fell. Images of the assaulted athlete, to quote Chinese media, were an instant internet hit, and subsequently picked up by official Chinese media, which transformed Jin into a martyr.
In retaliation, and with official Chinese support, bloggers campaigned for a boycott of French products and firms such as Carrefour, the French supermarket chain.
Sarkozy was profusely lampooned on the web, and France was accused of betrayal.
Hence, Franco-Chinese relations seriously deteriorated.
Perhaps, as a result, Sarkozy did attend the Olympic ceremony after all even though no discussions between China and the Dalai Lama had taken place, as he had demanded…
In Chinese eyes, the credibility and authority of the French President were not enhanced by this change of heart…
The need to improve relations with China was rendered all the more urgent and vital by the extent and depth of the financial and economic crisis that beleaguered France and the West and from which China emerged largely unscathed, its economy booming anew.
China is often portrayed as the world’s principle banker, the only player able to save capitalism, and the ultimate market where our firms can prevail, Marie Holzman, president of Solidarité Chine, a NGO born after the June 4, 1989 Massacre, told the French weekly L’Express.
In this context, France needed China more than China needed France.
As a result, the concessions have been all one sided.
We flatter China and treat its autocratic and ruthless leaders with utmost respect because we need their financial support and economic help to emerge from recession.
Yet, this policy of appeasement has been a major mistake.
We give the impression that we cannot survive without them, but it is the reverse that is true. The servile attitude we have demonstrated these last thirty years has transformed us into the accomplices of a dictatorial regime, Marie Holzman said.
The Chinese thrive on such weakness and have nothing but contempt for those who can afford no other role.
What they do respect and heed is power, and authority.
Exerting both does not necessarily entail being economically blacklisted by Beijing.
What is interesting is the comparison with Germany.
Angela Merkel did not attend the Beijing Olympics; she publicly met with the Dalai Lama and congratulated Liu Xiaobo after he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Yet, china voiced no objections.
There is a double standard. Why?
Because Germany’s position has been firm and constant, and does not change every year. France has lacked a long-term China policy. For China, this is an obvious sign of weakness, and they only respect strength, Jean-Vincent Brisset, a French China scholar, told TF1News.
The French are not taken seriously by the Chinese because of their versatility.
They prefer predictability and, as their approach to Germany demonstrates, do not mix business and politics. France’s policy, it seems, is nothing but business…
We have the power to influence China, and should not simply submit to its political imperatives.
China’s booming economy is principally export driven. It therefore, needs our markets to continue growing and prospering. That is the price of social stability, which the regime desperately needs to foster if it hopes to maintain its monopoly on political power. This is the source, and probably the sole one, of its legitimacy: prosperity for the Chinese people in exchange of their total political subjugation.
Hence, we, in the West, are in a position to demand that China respect its constitution (and, in particular Article 35, which states, Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration) and its international treaty obligations, if it wants to continue having unfettered access to our markets.
Why should the China relationship not be conducted on our terms for once?
For, surely, the Hu Jintao visit to France was a one-sided affair, 16 billion Euros worth of contracts notwithstanding.
If the Chinese President wants to come to France, he should do so but on our terms.
He deserves to be welcomed as the leader of a great nation, but should not expect and be given special treatment.
Other world leaders visiting Paris meet with the press.
If Mr. Hu is afraid to encounter a free press, he should stay in Beijing.
If China’s human rights policy embarrasses even him, then he should alter it or, again stay at home.
If it does not, then let him defend it publicly.
We should not allow him to visit France as he would a Chinese province, with no demonstrators or journalists anywhere to be seen…
Liu Xiaobo is in jail because he publicly and unabashedly espoused the values we profess to hold so dear.
He defends them much more nobly and bravely than we do, for we dare not even speak his name publicly before a Chinese leader.
It behooves all EU governments to rebuff China’s impudent attempts to intimidate them into boycotting the Nobel award ceremony and ignoring Liu Xiaobo.
The thugs who rule in Beijing should be made unequivocally aware that democrats in the West and everywhere else will hold them accountable for their actions wherever they go and that our silence and complicity cannot be bought.
(all translations from the French are minne; the photograph above of Hu Jintao and Nicholas Sarkozy in Nice is by Philippe Wojazer AFP)
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