Mr Herve Ladsous is worthy of his title as French ambassador to China, for he knows his host country pretty well - at least in one matter.
He said on Monday that he learned from Chinese tourism officials that "the Chinese government has not issued any notices discouraging tourists from going to France" and "I believe them."
French media reported earlier this month that the Beijing municipal government had issued "an order" to local travel agents asking them to "withdraw trips to France from their catalogue of tourism destinations".
It is true that the number of Chinese tourists to France has decreased dramatically in the past few weeks; but to attribute the sharp decline to a fabricated order by Chinese authorities is utterly ridiculous. How naive one would have to be to believe such a rumor.
A little reasoning will lead one to wave off the rumor as being unworthy of mention.
Would the Chinese government be so stupid as to take such an ostensibly ludicrous move? What would it gain from it? Would it do any good to anybody?
AFP said that an official from the Beijing tourism agency told its reporters that no such order had been given and that it had "simply reminded Chinese tourists to be careful about their security".
Probably that advice was where the rumor originated. But it is normal for any government to warn its citizens against possible security problems they may encounter when traveling in a foreign country. How can it be interpreted as an "order" of "boycott"?
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