Paris (AsiaNews) – Nicholas Sarkozy’s decisive victory in Sunday’s French presidential elections has generated interest around the world, especially in Turkey China and Lebanon.
Although Sarkozy’s campaign focused on domestic issues and to a lesser extent Europe, in his victory speech last Sunday evening France’s president-elect also talked about broader international issues. As head of state Mr Sarkozy said he wanted to focus on a simplified constitutional treaty for the European Union, renewing French-US friendship, fighting global warming, building a Euro-Mediterranean Union to strengthen economic co-operation and the fight against terrorism, defending human rights, standing by all those who are “persecuted by tyrannies and dictatorships” and “all the children” and “women who are tortured around the world.”
In the past the newly-elected president spoke out in defence of the people of Chechnya and Darfur. And he did not shy away from making controversial statements as when he said that Turkey, being in “Asia Minor,” could never be an EU member.
In commenting Mr Sarkozy’s election Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed hope that the French president-elect would not repeat the same rhetoric he made in the election campaign. As a candidate Mr Sarkozy said that if Turkey was let in, “it will be the end of EU.”
In China there was a sigh of relief. In congratulating Mr Sarkozy on his victory, Chinese President Hu Jintao stressed the “strong development of the last few years in the strategic partnership between the two countries” as well as “the substantial progress in co-operation in the political, economic, trade, technical, cultural and legal fields,” Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying. Sino-French relations are in Mr Hu’s opinion a “model of mutual respect and friendly coexistence.”
On China, Mr Sarkozy has in fact shown signs that he is flexible. If last month he insisted that he would push Beijing on its human rights record, he also rejected calls for a boycott of the Olympics. Next year's Olympics, he stated, would "bring an extraordinary breath of freedom" to the mainland.
As a pragmatist, several analysts noted that Sarkozy has no reason to jeopardise the good economic relationship between France and China left by his predecessor, Jacques Chirac.
By contrast, many in Lebanon are hoping that the new president may shed Chirac’s legacy. With the United Nations, the outgoing president was in fact a strong backer of the international tribunal charged with investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. So far fingers point to the involvement of Syria and Lebanese President Émile Lahoud.
In a statement, Mr Lahoud said that he was “confident that [Mr Sarkozy’s] term-in-office will witness a strong push and renewal of Lebanese-French relations”.
Also hoping for a change of course, Nawaf Mussawi, head of Hezbollah’ international relations office, said that his party ” welcomed the election results and urged the new leader to make policy decisions that “are more appropriate with French national interests, and consequently less biased toward one party against the other.”
For months now, Hezbollah has been blocking Lebanon’s parliament calling for the establishment of a national unity government in which it would exercise more power.
Similarly, Saad Hariri, leader of Lebanon’s parliamentary majority and son of slain leader Rafik Hariri, sent a message of congratulations to Sarkozy, stressing that “all the Lebanese [. . .] remember France and the French for their permanent stand toward their causes”.