PARIS:
China stepped into an internal French political spat Tuesday, fiercely
condemning a decision by the Paris City Council to make the Dalai Lama an
honorary citizen of the city.
"China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition" to
the
decision, said the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu. "This act of
crude interference in China's domestic affairs has seriously damaged the
Sino-French relation****p, and in particular the existing friendly ties
between Paris and Beijing."
Jiang added that making the Dalai Lama "an 'honorary citizen of Paris' now
can only be considered as another grave provocation of 1.3 billion Chinese
people, including the people of Tibet, and it will further encourage the
arrogance of the Dalai and Tibet independence elements."
The attention Beijing is attributing to the matter will no doubt please
the
recently re-elected mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, who is trying hard
to
become the next leader of the French Socialist Party, which is in disarray
since having lost the presidency last May to Nicolas Sarkozy and his Union
for a Popular Movement, or UMP, conservative party.
The gesture by Paris allowed Delanoë to distinguish himself from Sarkozy,
who has waffled about whether he will attend the opening ceremony of the
Olympic Games in Beijing on Aug. 8, or boycott it in protest.
Sarkozy is under pressure from French business executives who are deeply
involved in the Chinese economy and who are concerned by protests in China
over the past few days aimed at French companies, and by calls on the
Internet for a boycott of French goods.
The Chinese have disseminated photos of Jin Jing, a one-legged fencer from
Shanghai who endured anti-Chinese demonstrators on April 7 as she carried
the torch through Paris. Jin was re****tedly unimpressed by a letter of
apology from Sarkozy, who has not been in the front lines defending the
Dalai Lama - unlike Delanoë.
On Sunday, the Chinese ambassador to France, Kong Quan, tried in vain to
dissuade the Paris City Council, saying that the vote could "damage the
trust, friend****p and cooperative relations" between the two countries
and "worsen the situation in Tibet."
Pascale Andréani, a spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry, was quick
to issue a statement Tuesday saying that Paris had acted on its own. "It
is
not our place to interfere with a decision taken by the City of Paris,"
the
statement said. "The local authorities are fully independent, and
therefore
what towns and municipalities do is their own responsibility."
In an effort at diplomacy, Sarkozy is sending three emissaries to China:
the
president of the French Senate, Christian Poncelet, who delivered the
letter to Jin in Shanghai on Monday; Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former prime
minister and diplomatic adviser to Sarkozy; and Jean-David Levitte, a
former ambassador to Wa****ngton and the United Nations.
The Chinese traditionally see such emissaries as a form of tribute.
But China may have another motive, which is to send a strong message more
broadly. France will take over the six-month rotating presidency of the
European Union on July 1 and will be in charge of diplomatic relations
between the 27-country bloc and China during the Olympic Games.
"Increasing the pressure on France is a way for China to warn Paris
against
any temptation of taking a bold stance during the French presidency," said
Valérie Niquet, director of the Asia Institute at the French Institute of
International Relations.
Delanoë defended the city council's vote. "If Paris doesn't express its
attachment to values, it's too bad," he said. "Between a good conscience
and cynicism, there's defending one's convictions."
Katrin Bennhold contributed re****ting from Paris and David Barboza from
Shanghai.
Torch relay reaches Jakarta
The Olympic torch was paraded through a heavily guarded stadium in Jakarta
on Tuesday after the police stopped about 100 anti-Beijing protesters from
disrupting the latest leg of the torch's fraught journey around the world,
Reuters re****ted from Jakarta.
Taufik Hidayat, an Indonesian badminton star and Olympic gold medalist,
lighted a caldron in front of a cheering crowd as about 2,500 police
officers and 1,000 troops guarded the relay, which has attracted
anti-China
protests in Europe and the Americas since Beijing's crackdown last month
on
protests in Tibet
The relay had originally been scheduled to pass through large stretches of
Jakarta, but s****ts officials later announced that the route would be
restricted to the vicinity of Bung Karno Stadium.
About 5,000 guests and accredited members of the media were invited to
watch
the relay inside the stadium, and about 80 athletes, officials and
television and movie stars took part.
Source:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/22/europe/france.php
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