Dalai Lama's Europe visit denounced

　　By Qiu Wei

　　BEIJING, June 8 -- Following the city of Warsaw, Paris City Council on Sunday granted the Dalai Lama honorary citizenship, igniting debate among foreign-affairs experts about whether this will throw a new chill over recently thawed Sino-French ties.

　　"Citizens (of China) won't care about the complexity of the political system (of France), they will be irritated by the fact that the separatist Dalai Lama is to be named an honorary citizen of Paris," said Feng Zhongping, a senior researcher with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

　　Describing himself as on a "non-political tour," the Dalai Lama also gave a public address yesterday in a sports arena in Paris, before being granted the honor by left-wing Mayor Bertrand Delanoe in a ceremony at City Hall.

　　The decision was made in April by the Paris City Council, which voted to give the Dalai Lama the honor, provoking anger in China, which has resolutely opposed "any foreign political figures having contact with the Dalai Lama in whatever form" because he is considered an "exiled political figure engaged in secessionist activities."

　　"I hope and do not think that Delanoe's meeting with the Dalai Lama will impact the EU as a whole," Willem van Kemenade, a China analyst at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael in The Hague, told the Global Times yesterday in an e-mail interview.

　　Van Kemenade said that this meeting differs from Sarkozy's meeting with the Dalai Lama last year, which was an issue between the national governments of China and France, when France held the EU-presidency.

　　Unpopular despite honor

　　The award to the Dalai Lama was met with protests by the Chinese community in France.

　　"We, French-Chinese and Chinese nationals who are now living in this country, are astonished to learn that you will meet with the Dalai Lama and confer on him honorary citizenship," according to a letter of protest jointly written by 23 France-based overseas Chinese associations sent to the Paris City Council and obtained by the Global Times.

　　In an online poll conducted by Huanqiu.com, the Global Times' website, as of last night, 85 percent of 7,027 respondents said they were against Paris' decision to name the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen.

　　Shi Zhiqin, a professor of International Studies at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times that France is decentralized, with the mayor of Paris belonging to the Socialist Party, while France is governed by the center-right Union for a Popular Movement.

　　"Delanoe's ultimate goal is to contest the post of president against Sarkozy, and he therefore would like to play the political stunt and act against the central government," said Shi.

　　"European countries have been making subtle changes to their views toward the Dalai Lama this year. The legendary image of the Dalai Lama is collapsing. No meetings were arranged between French high-ranking officials and the Dalai Lama during his recent tour," said Zheng Yuanyuan, former People's Daily chief Paris correspondent.

　　"The French government said the honoring was an independent decision by the Paris City Council, not representing the French government," Zheng added.

　　Feng noted that domestic politics of France are just a minor factor on the issues of Tibet and the Dalai Lama.

　　"What really matters is the discrepancy of understanding between Chinese and Western people, a lot of whom are deluded by the Dalai Lama's titles of Nobel Peace Prize winner and so-called religious leader, without recognizing his intention and attempts to split China," Feng added.

　　French left-wing politicians would do whatever they could for the sake of votes, an anonymous Paris-based French scholar told the Global Times.

　　Meeting hurts feelings

　　In the same poll, 92 percent believed that although the Paris City Council's decision failed to represent the French government as a whole, it would still leave a negative impact on the development of bilateral relations.

　　Ties between China and France deteriorated late last year following a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Dalai Lama.

　　Bilateral ties have just begun to thaw with several high-profile visits to China by current and former French officials.

　　Bilateral tensions thawed after the two foreign ministries jointly released a communiqué April 1 stating that France would not support "Tibet independence" in any form.

　　On the same day, President Hu Jintao met with Sarkozy in London on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

　　Hu Shisheng, a researcher with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said he did not predict any new friction between China and France, as it is only a decision made by the city council and not the French government.

　　"The Dalai Lama has to rely on the international community to increase its leverage and he seeks to kidnap China-Europe relations and Sino-US relations by making use of the Tibet issue," Hu said.

　　Kang Juan and Guo Qiang contributed to this story