France/China

Dalai Lama tells senators Beijing breaks Olympic "truce"

Article published on the 2008-08-13 Latest update 2008-08-13 14:09 TU

The Dalai Lama in Evry yesterday
(Photo: Reuters)

The Dalai Lama has accused China of "breaking the Olympic truce" in  Tibet, say parliamentarians who atttended a private meeting with him at the French Senate. The meeting is the only political event during a 12-day visit to France which came straight after President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to the opening of the Olympic Games.

After the meeting Socialist Senator Robert Badinter said that he asked if China had "suspended repression and arrests" during the Olympics.

"The answer was very precise," he reported. "No. While the Games are going on, the oppression of the Tibetan people and the repression continue."

Senate Speaker Christian Poncelet did not attend the meeting, which was behind closed doors, drawing accusations from the left that the right-wing majority are frightened of offending Beijing.

Another Socialist Jean-Louis Bianco, who is president of the National Assembly working group on Tibet, slammed the conditions put on the visit as "indecent". He accused President Nicolas Sarkozy and his allies of acting like "doormats" for the Chinese.

Sarkozy's failure to meet the Buddhist leader has aroused criticism, especially in the light of his attendance at the Olympic opening ceremony after a period of apparent indecision over whether to do so.

His wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is to meet the Dalai Lama. He who says that his visit to France is "spiritual" but that he would be happy to meet the president.

The government has announced that Sarkozy will meet Nobel peace prize winners on 10 December, which should mean meeting the Dalai Lama, although, on hearing the news, he said that he has a visit to the Netherlands planned for that day.

The presidential palace has not confirmed that the meeting has been planned.