French rivals clash over Beijing Olympic boycott

April 27, 2007 (PARIS) — French right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday attacked as “absurd” a call by his Socialist rival Segolene Royal for a boycott of the 2008 Olympics to force China to back international action in Darfur.

“It is absurd. What do we want, for China to open up or shut down? The Olympic Games are universal, a wind of freedom and hope, they will certainly have an extremely positive influence on China’s opening-up,” he told reporters.

“To deny the Olympic Games to 1.3 billion Chinese is to isolate them when what Chinese society needs is to open up. Sport is a factor for peace, freedom, encounter and dialogue.

“To refuse that is the opposite of what we should do,” charged Sarkozy, who will face off against Royal for the French presidency on May 6.

Royal argued on Wednesday that the international community should use “the threat of the Olympic Games” to spur China into supporting UN action in the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur.

China responded by saying the threat went “against good will among the peoples of the world” and calling for “objectivity” and “calm” from political leaders.

China is Sudan’s most important international ally. It buys some 60 percent of Sudan’s oil exports and has used its veto to block resolutions condemning Khartoum in the UN Security Council.

(AFP)