China protests Dalai Lama meeting
BEIJING - China protested strongly to France yesterday over President Nicolas Sarkozy's meeting with the Dalai Lama, calling it a "rude intervention" into Chinese affairs.
Sarkozy met privately with the Tibetan spiritual leader in Gdansk, Poland, on Saturday during celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Lech Walesa, the former Polish president. The Dalai Lama has also received the prize.
Although China routinely lodges protests when world leaders meet with the Dalai Lama, yesterday's complaint - reported by the official Xinhua News Agency - comes as China hardens its line toward the Himalayan region.
China's relations with the French have been especially testy over the issue of Tibet since April, when pro-Tibetan activists protested en masse in Paris as the Olympic flame passed through the city on its world tour. Some Chinese called for boycotts of French products afterward.
Several times over the last week, China demanded that Sarkozy cancel the meeting and called off a major China-EU summit earlier this month in protest. Sarkozy downplayed the furor, saying, "There's no need to dramatize things."
But yesterday, Deputy Foreign Minister He Yafei of China summoned the French ambassador to China, Herve Ladsous, "and lodged a strong protest," Xinhua said.
It quoted He Yafei as saying the meeting "grossly interfered in China's internal affairs."
ASSOCIATED PRESS 