| Two points: 1) I think France is always the maverick in the west. Remember France is one of the first countries which established diplomatic relation with P.R.China, their president was Charles_de_Gaulle at the time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Gaulle#Recognition_of_the_People.27s_Republic_of_China In recent years France (along with Germany) is very outspoken against the Iraq war. So I would think it's just their (some what naive) indepedent spirits got them into the Paris torch relay mess. Unfortunately they are not the wrong side of the matter this time. 2) Trade and Boycott. I also thought about the boycott immediately after reading the Paris torch incident news. But after more careful consideration, I think boycott is mostly a symbolic gesture, not a viable solution. Chinese have said boycotting Japanese products for 10-20 years, but I saw the Japanese cars (Toyota, Honda) are ever more popular in China. This is because most consumers and business are very rational in terms of "get the most bang from the buck", or "get their money worth" when they buy stuff. That being said, I think western political leaders and foreign consumer brands should walk a very fine line here: they really should not piss off the Chinese people and consumers. The market is too important to ignore. |
Friends Started to Boycott French Products