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BEIJING : China and France sought Wednesday to cool tempers over Tibet and the Olympics, with a former French premier heading here for top-level talks criticising a decision to honour the Dalai Lama.
Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who arrives Thursday bearing a message from President Nicolas Sarkozy, said Paris city council was contradicting official policy by conferring citizenship of the capital on the Tibetan spiritual leader.
At the same time, the Chinese commerce ministry warned against an ongoing boycott of French supermarket giant Carrefour, lauded in state press as a good employer.
Carrefour has been the main target of Chinese angered by what they see as biased Western coverage of China's crackdown in Tibet as well as the chaos of the protest-hit Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay.
Raffarin characterised the honour by Paris city council as "a very serious political mistake," according to the text of an interview published Wednesday in the China Youth Daily.
"When making comments on some international issues, (Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe) must maintain consensus with the state's diplomatic strategy," he was quoted as saying in the interview, published in Chinese.
"While President Sarkozy makes efforts to improve France-China relations, the Paris administration is running in the opposite direction to the French government. This is very bad."
The Paris honour has incensed Beijing, with a foreign ministry spokeswoman calling it an "erroneous action" with a "severely negative impact".
Raffarin was quoted as saying that there "exist no strategic differences or confrontation between France and China."
"The recent tense atmosphere between the two nations is a 'clash of emotions' between the two peoples," he said.
Raffarin was to meet Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday and was expected to hand over a letter from Sarkozy to Chinese President Hu Jintao later this week.
Meanwhile, the commerce ministry cautioned against the Carrefour boycott, pointing out that it employs 40,000 Chinese and that up to 95 percent of its products were made in China.
"We also welcome the expression of opposition to 'Tibetan independence' and the support for the Beijing Olympics made by Carrefour," a commerce ministry spokesman said, after the retailer denied allegations of supporting the Dalai Lama.
Sarkozy's diplomatic advisor Jean-David Levitte is also due in China by the weekend, bringing another message from the president.
On Monday, visiting French Senate leader Christian Poncelet delivered yet another letter from Sarkozy to a handicapped Chinese athlete who was set upon by Tibetan independence protesters during the Paris torch relay.
The April 7 attack -- which has made Jin a local media hero -- and fears Sarkozy could boycott the Beijing Games opening ceremony helped touch off the wave of anti-French sentiment here.
"On the Tibet issue, President Hu Jintao has already expressed that the Chinese government is willing to hold dialogue with the Dalai Lama, but that there are certain preconditions," Raffarin said.
"President Sarkozy believes these preconditions are completely reasonable," he was quoted as saying.
China accuses the Dalai Lama of striving for Tibetan independence and fomenting unrest in the Himalayan region aimed at hampering the Olympics, and says he must stop such activities before any dialogue can happen.
But such talks have not been forthcoming despite the religious leader's repeated statements that Tibet is a part of China and that he supports the Beijing Games.
In early April, Sarkozy angered China when he said dialogue between Beijing and the Dalai Lama would ensure "that the Olympic Games can take place in a calm manner."
Protests against Chinese rule of Tibet erupted last month in the capital Lhasa, spreading to other areas of China with Tibetan populations.
Beijing has frequently accused a "Dalai Lama clique" of being behind the Tibetan unrest, and state media last month said the Dalai Lama was trying to take the August Games "hostage" -- claims he denies.
- AFP
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