China says France bears burden for repairing ties

China brands the exiled Dalai Lama a “splittist” for seeking self determination for Tibet, and was incensed by Sarkozy’s meeting on Saturday with the 73-year-old Buddhist leader in Poland.

Beijing has said Sarkozy’s act has bruised its ties with France and the European Union, China’s biggest trade partner.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao kept up the criticism, saying Sarkozy had “sabotaged the political basis for developing Sino-French relations.”

“The cause and responsibility do not lie with China but with France. We hope and demand that the French side will assume corresponding responsibility and take effective steps to mend its errors,” Liu told a regular news briefing.

“The key in the next stage in developing Sino-French relations is for the French side to ... fully grasp the damage done to Sino-French and Sino-EU relations by the French leader’s meeting with the Dalai Lama.”

China’s anger with Europe could make it more difficult for them to mesh smoothly in dealing with the global financial crisis and efforts to revive stalled global trade liberalisation talks.

Before Sarkozy’s meeting with the Dalai Lama, China pulled out of a regular summit with the EU. France holds the rotating presidency of the EU until the end of the year.

“It’s hard to see what has been achieved by Beijing as result of the ‘postponement’ of the summit,” Stanley Crossick, a Brussels based lawyer heavily involved in China-EU relations recently wrote on a blog commentary (crossick.blogactiv.eu).

China’s anger has shown its growing sensitivity over the Dalai Lama’s long frequent, if informal, meetings with Western leaders, including U.S. President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Liu would not specify what steps China wants Sarkozy to take, but clearly Beijing wants no more such meetings with the Dalai Lama.

“We hope and demand that the French side assume corresponding responsibility and takes effective steps to mends its errors,” said Liu.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 following a failed insurrection against Chinese rule, and since then has campaigned for Tibetan self-determination. Beijing says his calls for autonomy amount to a demand for outright independence.

Chinese internet calls to boycott French-owned stores over the weekend came to nothing. France is eager to sell China products ranging from nuclear power technology to luxury goods.

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