By Francois Murphy

PARIS, Dec 10 (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday dismissed those who criticise his human rights record as coffee-drinking intellectuals who stood idly by while he fought to change things.

Sarkozy has come under fire from his own secretary of state for human rights for not taking her with him on a trip to China, and he has also faced criticism for inviting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to Paris and meeting him on Monday.

Some opposition politicians have accused him of putting business interests before the human rights he has pledged to promote. He said on Monday he would sign business deals worth around 10 billion euros with Libya.

"It is all well and good to never get your shirt wet, to take no risks, to stay on the sidelines, to speak to no one, to be so sure of one's self and what one believes in while sipping one's cafe creme on the boulevard Saint-Germain," he said, referring to a traditionally intellectual, rich area of Paris.

Sarkozy said it was his intervention that secured the release of six foreign medics from Libyan prison in July and that he was fighting to free French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, who is being held by Colombian Marxist guerrillas.

"It is the eternal problem. Does one sit quietly at home with crossed arms, waiting for things to get better? But things don't get better unless you take the bull by the horns," he told reporters after meeting Gaddafi.

RIGHT TO TALK

He said it was right to speak to Gaddafi since he had ceased supporting terrorism and had abandoned a weapons of mass destruction programmes in 2003.

Ties between Tripoli and the West have warmed since then, but Gaddafi has rarely visited major Western capitals.

"What would we say to the leaders of Iran if we did not reach out to the Libyan leader who chose to turn his back on nuclear weapons and terrorism?" Sarkozy said, adding that he urged Gaddafi to do more on human rights.

"How could I solve the remaining problems if I did not speak to Mr Gaddafi?" he said.

Secretary of State for Human Rights Rama Yade voiced rare criticism of her political patron Sarkozy in a newspaper interview published on Monday, questioning his decision not to take her to China with him.

"Why hide the secretary of state for human rights? Nicolas Sarkozy must not turn his back on the diplomacy of values," she said of the China trip.

She told newspaper Le Parisien that her country was not a "doormat" on which Gaddafi could wipe off the blood of his crimes, adding: "France is not just a trade balance."

Sarkozy, however, was conciliatory when asked about her.

"Rama Yade has since confirmed how much she agreed with the principle of this visit. Moreover, she is secretary of state for human rights and it's perfectly normal that she has a conviction on this issue which, moreover, I share, and I reminded the Libyan president of that," Sarkozy said. (Additional reporting by Emmanuel Jarry and Jon Boyle)