China's relations with Europe wilt ahead of games - by Crispian Balmer
If China thought hosting the Olympics would win it friends abroad, it probably miscalculated.
Certainly in Europe, the approach of the Beijing Games has exacerbated relations between the two trading partners, with rows about human rights and Tibet overshadowing Chinese pride in their sprouting city skylines and booming economy. But as the trade imbalance ballooned in China's favor so attitudes in Europe have hardened and a wave of negative reports about executions, pollution and corruption ahead of the Games has further eroded the EU view of the eastern giant. "The Games have already backfired on China and if I were Chinese I would feel a bit short changed," said Kerry Brown, a Chinese expert at the Chatham House think-tank in London.
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