Chinese Urge Anti-West Boycott Over Tibet Stance

[Nutmegger]

Source: New York Times

BEIJING — Armed with her laptop and her indignation, Zhu Xiaomeng sits in her dorm room here, stoking a popular backlash against Western support for Tibet that has unnerved foreign investors and Western diplomats and, increasingly, the ruling Communist Party.

Over the last week, Ms. Zhu and her classmates have been channeling anger over anti-China protests during the tumultuous Olympic torch relay into a boycott campaign against French companies, blamed for their country’s support of pro-Tibetan agitators. Some have also called for a boycott against American chains like McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

On Friday and Saturday, protesters gathered in front of a half-dozen outlets of the French retailer Carrefour, including a demonstration in the central city of Wuhan that reportedly drew several thousand people, according to Agence France-Presse. On Saturday, about 50 demonstrators carrying banners held a brief rally at the French Embassy here before the police shooed them away.

For the moment, however, most of the outrage is confined to the Internet. More than 20 million people have signed online petitions saying they plan to stop shopping at the Carrefour chain, Louis Vuitton and other stores linked to France because of what they see as the country’s failure to protect the torch during its visit to Paris last week. In a survey released on Friday, China’s state news agency, known as Xinhua, said 66 percent of those who responded said they would stay away from Carrefour during a monthlong boycott planned for May.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/world/asia/20china.html?ref=world

[Deja Q]

1. But not because of recalled products due to lead, antifreeze, or melamine?

BTW: They are multinational companies and under nobody's jurisdiction.

[Selatius]

2. I find it funny they blame foreigners for the atrocities of their own government.

Oh, if a bunch of Tibetans get slaughtered by Chinese troops, its automatically the French who are to blame. That's like how Americans like to conflate anything they don't like with being too French.

[rockymountaindem]

5. The US government planned it all, dontcha know...

:sarcasm:

[stimbox]

8. The NED funds it and the CIA funded it before.

Your attempt to use sarcasm as a deflection of that fact is transparent.

:puke:

[rockymountaindem]

10. I could just as easily say that the fact that you are all over these threads

trying to discredit the Tibetans is an indication that you side with the Beijing government in this matter. I mean, if you think that the Tibetans have a point, why should it matter if the US funds/supports them? (which I don't admit Washington does, btw)

[stimbox]

17. So, I happen to side with Beijing. Tibet has been a part of China for over 700 years.

I don't think the U.S. should be funding dissident groups and trying to foment counter-revolution around the world.

I also don't think the Tibetan exiles have a point. To me they are the Gusanos of Asia.

[Joe Chi Minh]

20. Absolutely! It will serve the West right. The crooked morons. Money is the only

language our criminal corporatist leaders understand - as far as bloodless war is concerned, of course; and you people are already wailing! Got shares in some companies in China, have we? Tough cheese!

[rockymountaindem]

25. Thanks for your honesty

So even if Tibet has been a part of China for 700 years, you oppose the right of the Tibetan people to decide for themselves whether or not they want to remain a part of China? Do they not have the right of self-determination?

[stimbox]

29. The Tibetan people? or the U.S. backed and funded Tibetan exile government?

Did they have that right before the Communists took over China? No.

[entanglement]

37. What about the Palestinians? Do they have the right to self-determination?

BTW, I don't mean that to hijack the thread into I/P, just want you to realize that most humans pick their positions based on their national/ethnic/racial/religious affiliation or a combination thereof. It is a glacially slow process to evolve human solidarity that transcends borders and other differences.
There isn't a folly that hasn't been committed in the name of nationalism: not one. Nationalists are very similar to the religiously devout in that they will NEVER judge their own beliefs by the tough standards they apply to those of the "other". It is absurd to consider one form of nationalism as inherently "better" than the other.

[ckramer]

19. I would guess that

Chinese treating news of Tibetan rioters getting slaughtered would be as upset as Americans treating the news of Talibans getting killed by American troops.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. Good!

Maybe they will stop shipping us their cheap, toxic, shit now

[ckramer]

21. They wouldn't ship shit to us if there were no customers willing to buy

It's like blaming the sub-prime mess on creditors, not the debtors who signed themselves up to bankruptcy.

Edit: changed "anything" to "shit"

[theoldman]

4. I have found it very odd that so many Chinese are supporting

their government in its takeover of Tibet. Perhaps it the result of the nationalistic trend taking place in China. They do not like their government but feel that foreigners do not have the right to criticize.

[ckramer]

24. I have found it odd that so many Americans are supporting their government

in invading of Iraq. Perhaps it<'s> the nationalistic trend taking place in USA. They do not like the war but feel that foreigners do not have the right to criticize.

Fun isn't it? LOL

[Joanne98]

6. The freepers have landed in China!

[jody]

7. China could add an export tax on goods sold to WalMart and other companies that buy Chinese goods

:sarcasm:

On the other hand, economies of all the major nations are so intertwined that economic boycotts would be interesting to watch.

[Speck Tater]

9. Clearly China belongs in the Aixs of Evil.

No more "Chinese Checkers", from now on it's "Freedom Checkers".

[TommyO]

14. I may head to my local "Freedom Buffet" for dinner tonight

They make a most excellent Walnut Shrimp.

[brentspeak]

11. The Chinese have a history of being easily-led by their own government

Mao might have called for the Cultural Revolution, but it was the majority of the Chinese people who gladly perpetrated it.

[Joe Chi Minh]

22. And they are so sorry it is being taken from them without their say-so.

And who - with any kind of conscience - can blame them! The toiling billions have suffered a touch of the Diebolds by look of it. Or more like a coup from within, such as took place in the UK.

[ckramer]

26. Talking about "easily-led by their own government"

As far as I know, there are something called Joe6packs.

LOL

[harmonicon]

12. Man, I LOVE France.

Any country vilified by both the US and China must be doing a lot of things right.

[ckramer]

27. If any countries vilified by both the US and China

they are truly f***'ed.

I would jump on either one of the bandwagons.

[Lefty48197]

13. Good. Now keep all your fucking lead painted children's toys

you murderous bastards. May you rot in hell.

[entanglement]

36. These events should help people realize the folly of nationalism, whether Chinese or American

How is this woman any different than the misguided 90% baying for blood right after 911? No doubt she thinks she's doing the "patriotic" thing. You probably have more in common with those "murderous bastards" than you think.

[KillCapitalism]

15. I'm thinking China is such an evil regime...

that it makes Nazi Germany look like a tame place to be.

[daleo]

16. Well, China did invade Iraq and Afghanistan, killing thousands of innocent people

Wait a sec...maybe that was someone else.

[Joe Chi Minh]

23. Don't spoil their wee fantasies, now....!

[ckramer]

28. Damn you beat me to it!

[Javaman]

38. And none of Mao's programs killed millions of people...

:eyes:

[greiner3]

18. As for me;

Regardless of the political implications, I will never shop at Louis Vuitton. Not once!

[David__77]

30. I'm sick of the anti-China hatred.

The US government, certainly, is in no position to say anything. Private citizens can say whatever they want, but personally, I'm more concerned about the US's own atrocities.

[ToughLuck]

31. For crying out loud ..talk about displaced outrage.

[Flagg]

32. France: evreybody's favorite whipping boy

Some Tibetan guy goes after an handicapped Chinese athlete in Paris and the Chinese boycott French companies and start some good all Fuck France camapaign. Way to overract.

I have actually encountered one of those people on a manga forum on the internet.
They are very...articulate.

Check for yourself if you're intersted.
http://forums.narutofan.com/showthread.php?p=15534858#post15534858

[depakid]

33. Boycotting McDonalds and KFC?

Go for it! :D

[Tansy_Gold]

34. How soon do you think they will start boycotting all the

manufacturing jobs that used to be in the U.S. paying living wages and have been shipped to China paying slave wages? Yeah, right around the sixth Thursday next month.

I feel compassion for the Chinese people. I'm sure most of them want the same things people all around the world want -- enough to eat, clean water to drink, clean air to breathe, shelter from the elements, and the comforts of life that raise it above mere existence. But the Powers that Be there are not a whole lot different from the Powers that Be here.

I also feel compassion for the Tibetan people, who want the same things as well as to be left alone by imperial storm troopers intent on imposing someone else's idea of government.

Tansy Gold

[PittPoliSci]

35. yeah that's going to gain lots of support.

[ohio2007]

39. CNN Sued for More Than $1.3B for Chinese 'Goons' Comment

A Chinese primary school teacher and a beautician have filed a suit against CNN in New York over remarks they say insulted the Chinese people.

They want $1.37 billion in compensation - $1.06 per person in China, a Hong Kong newspaper reports.

The case against the Atlanta-based cable channel, its parent company Turner Broadcasting and Jack Cafferty, the offending commentator, comes after 14 lawyers launched a similar suit in Beijing alleging that Cafferty's remarks earlier this month violated the dignity and reputation of the Chinese people.

Cafferty said the United States imported Chinese-made "junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food".


snip

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352402,00.html


Guess the lead argument in products will be inadmissible in a court of law eh ;)