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China cancels rights talks with Germany
2007-10-15
China has canceled December human rights talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday, just weeks after Beijing criticized her for meeting with the Dalai Lama. A German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said the planned meeting in Beijing had been canceled "in the last few days," but refused to give reasons. China criticized Merkel for meeting in Berlin in last month with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, whom China views as a beacon for pro-independence sentiment in Tibet. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the meeting "seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and undermined China-Germany relations." Soon after the Berlin meeting, China abruptly called off other talks scheduled for the end of September in Munich, citing "technical reasons." Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, citing "diplomatic sources in Beijing," reported that China was particularly irritated that Merkel did not mention the upcoming meeting with the Dalai Lama when she was in China in August. China routinely criticizes visits abroad by the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet for India in 1959 during a failed uprising against Chinese rule. The 1989 Nobel Peace laureate remains popular among Tibetans and is widely respected abroad, despite efforts to undermine him by Chinese authorities. China claims Tibet has been its territory for centuries, but many Tibetans say they were effectively independent for most of that period. The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediate respond to a faxed request for comment.
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