Chinese fear boomerang of anger against West

“The French really make Chinese people angry,” said Zhou Shuyang, a 22-year-old student. “And we don’t want to be treated this way by the Western media, which lies. If we were allowed, a lot of people would join in protests, and I would as well.”

Chinese have called for boycotts of a host of French products made by Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Airbus, Renault and others. The statements have often been fueled by consistently denied rumors that the companies support the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, against China and donate sizable sums to pro-Tibet groups.

“This is totally groundless,” Bernard Arnault, chief executive of Louis Vuitton’s parent company, LVMH, told Le Figaro in an interview released Wednesday.

The French and European Union embassies in Beijing have received numerous harassing telephone calls in recent days. Several Western reporters have been besieged by death threats after their mobile numbers and other details were posted online.

“These young people get very emotional,” said Li Datong, former editor of the influential Freezing Point newspaper supplement. But “it’s unthinkable for the government to let demonstrations happen before the Olympics.”

Some see a more general pattern of restrictions on foreigners, although Chinese are also subject to tightened security in advance of the Games. China has implemented more restrictive visa policies and stepped up deportations. Up to 40 French teenagers in a Beijing bar were also detained in a drug sweep in early April, apparently part of a broader pre-Olympics cleanup that authorities say is aimed at drugs and prostitution. Some drugs were found and one student was held for 15 days.

Rules requiring foreigners to register with police anywhere they stay have been more tightly enforced. Foreign businessmen visiting the Canton Trade Fair this year were told to obtain police certificates stating that their Chinese staff aren’t criminals and were advised not to bring interpreters.

In recent weeks, China’s propaganda ministry has tolerated and even fueled an outpouring of postings, blogs, Internet chats and other manifestations of anger against Western media. China’s government-run media, meanwhile, featured articles on Western media bias prominently.

China’s Internet, which is not subject to as much control as conventional media, has become increasingly influential. Internet users reached 228 million in March, according to the Beijing research firm BDA China, surpassing the 217 million U.S. users. But the government has what is believed to be the most sophisticated Internet control system in the world, relying on Web site and keyword filters, cyber police, self-censorship and the forced cooperation of online companies.

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