|
China confirms EU summit off over Dalai Lama row
2008-11-26
BEIJING (AFP) - China confirmed it had postponed a summit with the European Union in protest at French President Nicolas Sarkozy's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama, state media reported Thursday. China's official Xinhua news agency, quoting Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang, said the decision was taken because the summit could not achieve its expected goals. The spokesman said the Chinese government and people were extremely unhappy at Sarkozy's plan to meet the exiled Tibetan spiritual after the China-EU summit. "The Tibet issue is related to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and it touches China's interests at the core. We firmly oppose the Dalai Lama 's separatist activities in foreign countries with any capacity, and firmly oppose the contact between foreign leaders with him in any form," Qin said. Xinhua quoted Qin as saying that in a bid to maintain good relations with France and the EU, China had told France many times to handle the Tibet issue properly in order to create the necessary conditions for the summit. But Qin said France, which holds the EU's rotating presidency until the end of the year, had not actively responded to China's efforts to maintain ties with France and the EU, according to Xinhua. However, the spokesman said China was still intent on developing closer links. "China values the ties with France and has been making active efforts to develop bilateral relations. We hope that France takes the overall situation seriously and pay attention to and cope with the major concerns of China in an earnest manner, and create conditions for the steady development of bilateral relations," Qin said. An EU statement released Wednesday said China had scrapped the summit in protest at EU leaders' plans to meet the Dalai Lama during a visit to Europe. On November 14, China hit out at Sarkozy's planned meeting with the Tibetan spiritual leader in Poland on December 6, warning that it could hurt relations between the two countries. The 73-year-old Buddhist leader is also due to visit the Czech Republic and Belgium, where he is to address the European Parliament on December 4. The Dalai Lama has sought "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet since he fled his homeland following a failed uprising in 1959 against Chinese rule, nine years after Chinese troops invaded the region. China claims he actually seeks full independence.
| 
