Sarkozy hosts Chinese torchbearer to heal rift
PARIS, Sept 18 (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday hosted disabled Chinese athlete Jin Jing, who was hailed as a hero at home after she was jostled by pro-Tibet protesters during the Olympic torch's passage through Paris.
The April 7 incident, during which Jin clung to the torch to shield it from protesters who threw themselves at her and tried to snatch it, caused a diplomatic rift between China and France that Sarkozy has been at pains to mend ever since.
"You have done your country proud, you have upheld the values of sport. France welcomes you today with deep friendship and strong emotions," Sarkozy told the athlete, who joined French Paralympians for a reception at his palace.
Jin, a former fencing champion, became a nationalist icon after pictures of the mayhem in Paris were played repeatedly on Chinese television.
Sarkozy had sent messages of sympathy, but that was not enough to defuse tensions and some angry Chinese organised protests in front of stores owned by French supermarket chain Carrefour and pressed for a boycott.
Jin, who was in a wheelchair at the time of the incident, used crutches to walk at the reception at the Elysee palace in Paris. Jin lost part of her right leg when she was nine after developing a tumour in her ankle.
Jin told Reuters last month she hoped the incident in Paris would be forgotten and the Beijing Olympics would go down in history as a time when the world joined as a family and cast away misunderstandings. (Reporting by Emmanuel Jarry)
