Merkel should say Dalai Lama meet an error: China’s PM

“We oppose European leaders in an official capacity to meet the Dalai Lama,” Wen told journalists following the annual China-European Union summit here.

“Germany is also a friend of China and a strategic cooperative partner.

“Friends and partners often say and do the wrong things, but as long as they recognize and correct (their mistakes) we will always remain friends.”

Merkel incensed China when she met with the Dalai Lama on September 23, with Beijing saying the meeting had “seriously damaged” bilateral relations.

The German chancellor has refused to bow to China’s pressure.

“As German chancellor I will decide who I meet and where,” she told Bild newspaper last week. “In foreign politics, we cannot allow our principles and our economic interests to contradict each other.”

Merkel has urged Beijing to hold talks with the Dalai Lama, and to allow him to return to the Tibetan region and help realise Beijing’s long-held promise of granting autonomy to the Himalayan region.

“The Chinese government has all along maintained that as long as the Dalai Lama acknowledges that Tibet is an inseparable part of China and that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China, then the door for dialogue with him will always be open,” Wen said.

“We are watching the Dalai Lama, we not only watch what he says, but more importantly what he does,” Wen added.

“His words and deeds fully show that he aims to take Tibet and the greater Tibetan area and separate it from China.”

Since Merkel’s meetings with the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner, China has cancelled a series of high level exchanges with Germany, including a planned December trip to Beijing by German Finance Minister Peer Steinbruck.

China sent troops into Tibet in 1950 and officially “liberated” it the following year. The Dalai Lama now travels the world seeking support for his calls for Tibetan autonomy.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet following a failed uprising in the region in 1959.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email