News from the New Party

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Sarkozy's gambit

The suggestion that Nicolas Sarkozy may boycott the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing as a consequence of recent events in Tibet is remarkable. Only five years ago a favourite joke went like this: What do you call a Frenchman advancing on Baghdad? The answer: a businessman. The implication: that whatever the rights and wrongs of a situation, as far as French foreign policy was concerned, business is business. President Sarkozy's position on Tibet is therefore distinctly un-French, and for that reason alone, refreshing.

Whether or not Sarkozy's stand will achieve anything of substance is another matter, however. If there were such a thing as a "neocon handbook" it would have little to say about the protection of the Tibetan people and culture from the depredations of communist China. This is one problem that will not be solved by American airpower. The best that can be hoped for is that such options as are reasonably available to western governments will embarrass the government of the People's Republic of China into a pattern of behaviour which is less overtly hostile to the Tibetans. Time will tell whether Sarkozy's gambit will pay off - but he nevertheless deserves credit for being the first western leader to take a real stand on this issue.

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Sarkozy's gambit