Trade takes priority over human rights

China's President Hu Jintao is currently paying an official visit to France. French President Nicolas Sarkozy should take the opportunity to address the issue of human rights violations in China, the left-liberal daily Der Standard writes, but says he won't dare out of fear of harming his country's economic interests: "China's demand that European governments stay away from the Nobel Peace Prize-giving ceremony for Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in Oslo is an impertinence which unfortunately the country can permit itself. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is reaffirming this in an impressive manner. In view of the billions in business deals that Chinese leader Hu Jintao is signing during his visit to Paris and his upcoming G20 presidency Sarkozy has abstained from making official reference to the Nobel Prize. Principles must take a back seat when economic interests are at stake. China knows this and is exploiting its power with a brazen lack of diplomacy. Those who oppose the Chinese line on the 'three Ts' - namely Tibet, Taiwan and Tiananmen Square, or in other words human rights - run the risk of triggering a serious diplomatic crisis."

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