BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Thursday blamed French President Nicolas Sarkozy's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama for pulling out of a China-EU summit which may have forged a joint response to the global economic crisis. France confirmed Sarkozy would meet the Tibetan spiritual leader, whom China brands a separatist, at a Dec. 6 ceremony in Poland to mark the 25th anniversary of the award of the Nobel Prize to former Solidarity leader Lech Walesa. China this month warned France, which holds the rotating EU presidency, that the European Union risked losing "hard-won" gains in ties with Beijing if Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama. The decision could make it harder for the EU and China to cooperate on a host of pressing global issues and spill over into an often tricky bilateral trade relationship.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Thursday blamed French President Nicolas Sarkozy's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama for pulling out of a China-EU summit which may have forged a joint response to the global economic crisis.
France confirmed Sarkozy would meet the Tibetan spiritual leader, whom China brands a separatist, at a Dec. 6 ceremony in Poland to mark the 25th anniversary of the award of the Nobel Prize to former Solidarity leader Lech Walesa.
China this month warned France, which holds the rotating EU presidency, that the European Union risked losing "hard-won" gains in ties with Beijing if Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama.
The decision could make it harder for the EU and China to cooperate on a host of pressing global issues and spill over into an often tricky bilateral trade relationship.
