Why Boycotting Carrefour in China over Dalai Lama Visit to France Would Be Another Waste of Time

The China Teaching Web ^ | 11/4/2008 | Robert Vance

[robertvance]

As French president Nicolas Sarkozy prepares to meet the Dalai Lama on Saturday, it appears that many here in China are not willing to learn from the mistakes of the past. This week, my university campus is buzzing with talk of once again boycotting Carrefour in response to this highly controversial meeting that has already drawn strong condemnation from Beijing. Considering the embarrassment that the Carrefour boycott brought upon China in April, I can hardly believe that people are seriously talking about doing it again...

[ClaudiusI]

Whadda buncha maroons.

[Niuhuru]

Why is the Dalai Lama so important that they ignore their duties and the real problems that beset their country to meet with a man who is still yammering about Tibet.

[ponder life]

I believe, as time marches on, and as China's economic and political influence increases across the globe, there will be less of this type of attitude and actions within China.

There is still a lingering insecure feeling of being marginalized by foreign powers in China, due to past Western colonizalism. But as China's influence grows, people within China will not feel so insecure.

If the Tibet issue is still around in 50 years, and Chinese citizens see protests in France regarding Tibetian independence, I really doubt the Chinese people, by then, will be so upset as they are today. In fact, in 50 years time, I really doubt protests against China in a foreign country would even make front page news.

[MimirsWell]

Sure, Tibet won’t be an issue in 50 years because it will be free.
There won’t be protests against it either because IT will not exist as it does today as “One China”.

Let’s wager a bet. In 50 years, if you and I are still around, the wrong one leaves FR. :-)

[hobbitslikepotatoes]

I heard that the boycott of Carrefour in April was orchestrated by Chinese government. That is why the boycott was well controlled and put up so quickly. Normally in China, a gathering of a hundred people need to be registered in authority.

[robertvance]

No one knows for sure who orchestrated the boycotts in April but I am pretty certain that it was not the Chinese government. There were arrests made in my city and the government actually texted citizens asking them to not participate. Protests are actually allowed in China as long as they are not anti-government in nature.

[ponder life]

Sure, Tibet won’t be an issue in 50 years because it will be free. There won’t be protests against it either because IT will not exist as it does today as “One China”.

Let’s wager a bet. In 50 years, if you and I are still around, the wrong one leaves FR. :-)

I'm willing to make that wager, except, I may end up leaving before 50 years since I may not be able to see the computer screen before that time :)

But you have to realize, that Tibetians are moving into China looking for opportunities and the Chinese are moving into the Tibetian Plateau. There will be considerable cross migration occuring over the next 50 years, especially given all the airports, rail systems and freeways that are being built throughout China and into Tibet. And an ever expanding urbanization of the Chinese population means more economic opportunities for Tibetians to leave the plateau to go elsewhere in China.

But I'll up the wager too. That the Russian Far East will be part of China in 50 years. And maybe Mongolia (though, I won't throw that into the wager).