Blow for Cameron as China welcomes Hollande

Beijing punishes PM for his meeting with Dalai Lama while French president gets full state visit treatment

The Guardian, Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent, Friday 26 April 2013

The French president, François Hollande, meets his Chinese counterpart,
 Xi Jinping, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. Photograph:
Pool/Getty Images

David Cameron's mission to change the focus of British foreign policy by boosting trade links suffered a setback after Downing Street was forced to abandon a trip to China as Beijing punished the prime minister for meeting the Dalai Lama.

In a blow to Cameron, who had hoped to hold an annual summit with the Chinese leadership, the French president François Hollande was on Friday feted in Shanghai on a full state visit a few weeks after the prime minister was due to visit China.

Cameron is understood to have abandoned the planned trip after Beijing indicated that he was unlikely to be granted meetings with senior figures. He is now expected to visit in the autumn, two years after his first and only visit as prime minister.

Britain accepts that Beijing is exacting punishment after Cameron met the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, at St Paul's Cathedral last May. The meeting, which was similar to Gordon Brown's discussions with the Dalai Lama at Lambeth Palace in 2008, was designed to minimise offence in China by showing that Britain regards him as a spiritual leader. Downing Street has made clear to Beijing that it accepts Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China.

Government sources said that tentative plans for the prime minister to visit China this month were put on hold before his visit to India in February for the simple reason that the new Chinese leadership only took over in March. Cameron spoke to Li Keqiang, his new Chinese counterpart, after his appointment.

But the Guardian understands from diplomatic sources that a visit was firmly placed in the prime minister's diary for earlier this month. This was abandoned when it became clear that the prime minister would be denied the access usually granted to a G8 leader.

Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary who has just returned from China, told the Guardian: "David Cameron came to office claiming he would prioritise the UK's diplomatic and trade relationship with China, and yet the real difficulties in relations have now been laid bare. I was in China this week and it is clear that the new Chinese leadership are focused on the French president's visit, along with a large number of French companies looking for business.

"In the past, UK prime ministers have met with the Dalai Lama without the deterioration in relations with China that we are now seeing. For all of their initial boasts and bluster, the UK government has lacked a strategic or a joined-up approach to China since it came to office, and that's now showing."

A No 10 source said: "Of course, as any good diary planner would, we pencil in early on dates when the prime minister could potentially travel overseas without going firm on destinations. We decided several weeks ago that we wanted to visit some European capitals in the time we had earlier this month. When the prime minister and Premier Li Keqiang spoke in March they looked forward to meeting in due course."

Officials said trade with China is still rising and the two countries are on course to achieve £1bn in bilateral trade by 2015. Exports to China grew 13.4% last year.

But the decision to abandon the visit is a personal setback for Cameron, who said after coming to office that he would place trade at the heart of foreign policy, with a particular emphasis on the so-called Bric countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. A visit to India in February fell flat after private complaints that the prime minister appeared to regard the country as a trading opportunity rather than an emerging world power.

Hollande was greeted by Xi Jinping, the new Chinese president, when he arrived in Beijing with his partner Valerie Trierweiler on Thursday. They agreed to hold an annual summit – Cameron's original aspiration when he first visited China in November 2010 – after Hollande said he hoped to build a "multipolar" world. This is the classic French ambition to ensure the US cannot dominate the world in a "unipolar" world.

Cui Hongjian, director of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, a foreign ministry thinktank, told the South China Morning Post that this message was well received in Beijing. "France sometimes has different ideas from the US. China may co-operate with France."

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RI looking good for L’Oreal

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 01/18/2010 11:38 AM

With a population approaching 250 million and promising economic growth, the Indonesian growing beauty market is increasingly alluring for Paris-based cosmetics giant L’Oreal which aims to make that French style affordable here.

Last week, the company’s CEO Jean-Paul Agon flew in for a market visit to what he referred to as one of the countries that “will very soon represent the majority of the business of L’Oreal worldwide” alongside China, Brazil and India.

The company has long seen the lion’s share of its sales, or 90 percent, coming from outside France.

During the third quarter of 2009, sales in Asia reached ¤512.8 million (US$716.8 million), a 11.4 percent increase on a like-for-like basis.

This contrasted with sales from Western Europe, which dropped 2.4 percent, although remaining one of the biggest contributors to sales at ¤1,683 million.

With products ranging from Garnier whitening lotion and more luxurious Lancome mascara, L’Oreal saw Indonesia come in as it’s fourth fastest growing market in terms of sales last year.

“The beauty market in Indonesia is growing very fast. The two markets in the world with the highest growth in 2009 were China and Indonesia at 12 percent, which is fantastic. There was no crisis for the beauty industry in Indonesia,” he said.

He added that he expected this kind of growth to continue for some 20 years into the future.

“The drive for that growth will [reflect the way that] Indonesian consumers want more and more to have access to high quality products and that’s what we can provide,” he said, while adding L’Oreal’s business expansion plan for Indonesia to his priority list.

The company is planning to build another plant in Indonesia to produce its consumer products for brands such as Garnier and L’Oreal Paris. Agon said the plant’s capacity would be “very large” compared to the existing plant in Ciracas, East Jakarta, which already produces 100 million units annually.

“The new plant will export about 80 percent of its production, just like what we’re doing now [with the current plant],” Agon said.

The investment value for the plant, he added, will be $50 million.

“I think Indonesia is really now a strong force in the economy of Asia and we really believe in the future of this country and that’s why we want to invest and participate in the development of the country,” he said.

The company is now seeking to gain stronger grounds in the lucrative Indonesian beauty market.

“We think that we have a lot potential. Our market share here is still limited… Although the market has accelerated in the last two years but we still have a much lower market share here than we have in other countries,” he said.

L’Oreal Indonesia president director Jean-Christophe Letellier said the company held the third biggest market share after consumer goods manufacturer Unilever, which produces skin care products under a popular brand name Pond’s, and P&G.

Agon said his strategy to build the company’s presence in the Indonesian market is to go deeper in distribution and make the mass products more affordable for the world’s fourth largest population.

He added that he learned some important things during his visit to several stores that sell L’Oreal’s products in Jakarta.

“I was very impressed with the dynamism of the market. Also, there are very different options for the consumers, in terms of types of stores. Indonesia is quite developed already in terms of choice for consumers and in terms of stores. And so for us it means that we have to be ready to be present in all these type of stores if we want to play a full role in the country,” he told The Jakarta Post.

He also said that he was open to the possibility of acquiring local brands to add to the company’s portfolio.

“It’s an opportunity that we could consider if there are Indonesian brands that would like to discuss with us,” he added. (adh)

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RI, France agree on ‘unlimited’ strategic partnership

Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Paris | Wed, 12/16/2009 11:15 AM

‘Guten morgen’: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono shakes hands with German pupils as German President Horst Koehler (right) watches at the Bellevue Palace in Berlin on Tuesday. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Indonesia and France have agreed to step up their bilateral relationship through a planned launch of what leaders of the two countries called an “unlimited strategic partnership”.

President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono met with French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday to discuss the issue, upon which they agreed on enacting the partnership starting next year when Indonesia and France were to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the two countries’ bilateral relationship.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told reporters after the meeting between the

two presidents at Elysee Palace in Paris that Yudhoyono had invited the French president to visit

Indonesia to co-launch the strategic partnership.

“There is willingness between the two countries to begin a strategic partnership. France has firmly stated that Indonesia has gained more influence globally, and wants a without-limit strategic partnership [with Indonesia],” said Marty.

“The planned visit of President Sarkozy to Indonesia in 2010 will be a good opportunity to formalize the strategic partnership.”

With the unlimited partnership, Marty said, there would be huge potential for cooperation between the two countries across a range of fields, including social, cultural, education and engineering.

Earlier that day, Yudhoyono met with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, during which the two leaders agreed to further develop the relationship between Indonesia and European Union.

Marty said the EU’s and France’s intentions to strengthen their relationships with Indonesia signified the latter’s emerging influence on the global stage.

“It’s getting clearer that Indonesia is in a transition period with growing influence internationally, which we must safeguard,” he said.

Besides discussing the prospect for the strategic partnership, Yudhoyono and Sarkozy in their talks also discussed many other issues, including what roles they could play in the G20 economic group and in the climate change conference in Copenhagen to ensure its success.

Regarding the Muslim world’s role, the two leaders stressed the importance of representation of Muslim majority countries at the UN Security Council, and Indonesia’s chance for it was recognized, Marty said.

Before meeting with Sarkozy in the evening, Yudhoyono addressed some 100 French businesspeople investing in Indonesia at a business luncheon held upon his arrival in Paris.

Marty who is accompanying the President during the European trip, said Yudhoyono explained to the French investors the recent developments in Indonesia following the Presidents re-election in July.

The new government’s priority programs, as well as existing opportunities and potentials for investment, were also explained.

Marty said the French businesses considered Indonesia’s investment climate to be “interesting”, and were impressed with the improvements in legal certainty and procedures to start businesses, as well as the country’s positive economic growth through and since the global financial crisis.