Word: lamas
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...political and business leaders would stay at home because, in the words of China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang, "the summit cannot be held in a sound atmosphere, nor can it achieve expected goals." The reason? The French President's plan to meet with Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on December 6 as part of an event honoring fellow Nobel peace prize winner Solidarity leader Lech Walesa in Poland.(See pictures of the Dalai Lama's decades of spiritual leadership...
...China firmly opposes any contacts with the Dalai Lama by foreign leaders in whatever form," Qin said in a statement released by the state-run Xinhua news agency. "We hope that France could fulfill its commitments, and properly deal with China's major concerns in earnest so as to create conditions for the steady development of bilateral relations...
There's nothing new in China being touchy on the subject of Tibet, of course. What makes this latest episode unusual is China's failure to call out other European leaders who have met with the Dalai Lama recently - as British premier Gordon Brown did in May, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel did in August. Beijing also has little to say about E.U. officials who will speak with the Dalai Lama during his tour of Europe this month - including officials from the Czech Republic, which assumes the E.U.'s rotating presidency from France in January. So why the exceptionally rough...
...because France has repeatedly shown itself to be the weak link in Europe by knuckling under to pressure when other nations push China back." The Chinese, Brisset says, "only respect those who stand up for themselves, which the British and Germans have done in their dealings with the Dalai Lama before, and even Poland - which is hosting the disputed event - is doing as well...
...Whatever steps the Tibetan movement takes over the next few months, they are likely to be the just beginning of a long process of slowly shifting strategy. The Dalai Lama tried to reassure his followers about his health (he recently had his gallbladder removed, and says he is feeling better than ever) and talked about preparing for a long road ahead: "In 10 years, I will be 83, In another 10 years, I will be 93. In the next 20 years, if we are not careful in our planning, then there is a great danger...