Nicolas Sarkozy has done it again. In spite of all the warnings and protests from Beijing.

His meeting with the Dalai Lama hit Chinese nerves hard. But, the French president probably was betting on the assumption that China and France will have to do business anyway.

Indeed, Sarkozy had provoked the Chinese more than once. And, after some slight shows of regret, or perhaps ambiguous explanations, China continued to buy Airbuses.