Mass muggings and attacks on Chinese tourists in Paris have spawned alarm and warnings of a decline in the number of free-spending visitors from the Asian giant who swarm to France.
More than 1 million Chinese visitors come every year to France, a country which for them epitomizes luxury, romance and quality products.
However, that may very well change, said one expert, citing a slew of recent attacks which he says takes the sheen off the “City of Lights” for Chinese visitors.
“This has become a scourge. Since the past year, we have been seeing attacks almost every day,” said Jean-Francois Zhou, the head of Ansel Travel, which specializes in tours to and from China.
On March 20, a group of 23 Chinese visitors were robbed in a restaurant shortly after they landed in Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport. Their passports, plane tickets and cash were stolen and the group leader sustained an injury to the face.
“The situation is serious. If these attacks continue, we may have to pay the price,” Zhou told reporters.
He said about 10 Chinese visitors were robbed on one day in October last year, mainly in the famed Louvre museum, right in the heart of the city.
And in February, “a minibus caught in a traffic jam was attacked, its windows were smashed and handbags stolen,” he said, adding there was a more recent attack on Chinese nationals at a four-star hotel in Paris.
“There has been an increase in the number of complaints filed over the past year,” said Li Peng (李平), who is in charge of consular affairs at the Chinese embassy in Paris. “In a week we could have five to six demands for travel documents” to replace stolen passports.”
French Tourism Minister Sylvia Pinel has pledged that “everything will be done to find the perpetrators” of the latest mass mugging, and underscored “the determination of the French government to ensure the security of tourists in France.”
Zhou said the Chinese were targeted as they were big spenders, adding: “Some of them carry up to 20,000 euros [US$25,000] for shopping.”
The latest incident has fueled concern and some anti-French feeling on China’s talkative social media scene, but several Chinese travel agencies declined to comment to reporters on the possible consequences.
One municipal travel committee in China’s Jiangsu Province urged travelers to take precautions.
“Chinese tourists who travel abroad are recommended to take less cash, never show off money or valuables, never talk to strangers in public places or scenic spots, always keep an eye on personal belongings,” it said on its Chinese microblogging account.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese