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Article

14 Apr 2008

Author:
Jason Leow, Wall Street Journal

In China, Citizens Call For Boycotts of Their Own - Campaigns Target Retailers Supportive Of the Dalai Lama

Some Chinese citizens, angry over foreign criticism of their country's policies in Tibet, are calling for boycotts of at least two European retailers for purportedly supporting the Dalai Lama... Internet users in China -- it is unclear how many -- have...spread a call for Chinese consumers at home and abroad to boycott...Carrefour SA and...the Body Shop, owned by L'Oréal... Those advocating the boycott argue that a major Carrefour shareholder has contributed funds to the Dalai Lama, regarded by many Tibetans as their spiritual leader. And Chinese critics are targeting the Body Shop because they say its Australian operation helped promote a tour of the Dalai Lama to that country in June... Dai Wei, a spokeswoman for Carrefour in China, said she wasn't aware of the intended boycott. "As a foreign enterprise in China, we don't want to be involved in politics or sports," she said... [The] Body Shop said its Australian franchise "provided limited support to a nonpolitical tour" by the Dalai Lama to Australia last year. The support was nonfinancial, and the company has "no ongoing formal commitment to or contact with the Dalai Lama," the statement says.