http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/12/06/sarkozy.dalai.ap/index.html?iref=24hours
Sarkozy-Dalai meeting draws China warningStory Highlights
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GDANSK, Poland (AP) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy held his long-awaited meeting with the Dalai Lama on Saturday, despite warnings from China that it could have a negative impact on ties between the two countries.
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The French president and the Tibetan spiritual leader sat down for a 30-minute talk behind closed doors in Gdansk during celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of former Polish President Lech Walesa's Nobel Peace Prize.
Sarkozy told reporters before leaving for the airport that the meeting went "very well."
"I told him how much importance I attach to the pursuit of dialogue between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese leadership," Sarkozy said. "The Dalai Lama confirmed what I already knew, that he is not demanding independence."
The Dalai Lama did not talk to reporters before or after the meeting.
Sarkozy also said the Tibetan leader voiced concerns about his homeland, while the French leader said those worries "are shared in Europe."
In images of the meeting shown on French television, Sarkozy smiled as he leaned over for the Dalai Lama to drape a white scarf around his neck.
China had demanded Sarkozy cancel the meeting and called off a major China-EU summit earlier this week in protest. Beijing also warned the meeting could have a negative impact on France's relations with China. But Sarkozy, whose nation currently holds the rotating European Union presidency, sought to downplay the furor surrounding the meeting, saying: "There's no need to dramatize things."
Sarkozy defended his right to meet with whomever he chooses, stressing before the meeting that he has his "values and convictions." At the same time, he also stressed his talk with the Dalai Lama posed no threat to Beijing.
"I've always considered there is only one China, that Tibet is part of China, and the Dalai Lama himself does not call for independence for Tibet," he said. "The world needs an open China that takes part in world governance. China needs a strong Europe that gives work to China's business. We need to work together."
Sarkozy did not meet with the Dalai Lama when he was in France for a 12-day visit in August that coincided largely with the Beijing Olympics. The president's wife, former model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, attended a much-photographed temple ceremony with the Tibetan spiritual leader in France.
France has many pro-Tibetan activists who protested en masse in the streets as the Olympic flame passed through Paris in April on its world tour, angry about China's harsh crackdown on Tibetan demonstrators in March. Some Chinese called for boycotts of French products afterward.
In recent months, China has hardened its resistance toward the Dalai Lama and the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner's calls for greater autonomy for his homeland, largely in response to a widespread anti-Chinese uprising in Tibet earlier this year.
China maintains that Tibet has been part of its territory for more than seven centuries and denounces the Dalai Lama as a separatist who seeks to end Chinese rule of the Himalayan region. Many Tibetans say they were effectively an independent country for most of that time.
The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in Dharamsala, India, since fleeing Tibet amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. A self-proclaimed Tibetan government-in-exile also is based in the northern Indian city.
The Dalai Lama remains deeply revered among Tibetans, despite Beijing's relentless attempts to vilify him |
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发表于 2008-12-7 13:02
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