Raffarin critical of Paris Council
Former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin says he is "ashamed" the Dalai Lama was made honorary Paris citizen.
Former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has said he is “very ashamed” that the mayor of Paris had made the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen of the French Capital.
Paris City Council elected to give the exiled Tibetan leader the title amid worsening relations between France and China after the disastrous Olympic torch relay in Paris last week.
Televised scenes, including paralympic fencer Jin Jing being jostled by pro-Tibet protestors, were seen across China, leading to widespread condemnation of France in the Asian country.
French supermarket chain Carrefour, which has 100 outlets in China, has also been up against criticism for its alleged support for the Dalai Lama.
Mr Raffarin told the China Youth Daily newspaper: “This gesture of Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë is a very serious political error.
“As the senior official on the Paris Council, he should be maintaining a consensus with the state’s diplomatic strategy when it comes to international affairs.
“I am very ashamed that the Paris Council voted for a decision that goes against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s efforts to improve relations between France and China.
“If the Paris Council wants to honour someone it considers heroic, it should first analyse the candidate objectively, not on impulse.”
Mr Raffarin is accompanied on his diplomatic trip to China with President of the French Senate Christian Poncelet, who this week presented Jin Jing with an official apology, signed by Nicolas Sarkozy, for the way she was treated in Paris.
The pair today presented Chinese premier Wen Jibao with a written letter from Nicolas Sarkozy expressing his wish to ease relations between the two countries.
They will also present Mr Jibao with a biography of President Charles de Gaulle, who was the first European Leader to officially visit Maoist China in the 1960s.
Mr Raffarin said: “The message is clear. There has been no change in France’s political position concerning China.
“It is still based on the principles put in place by General de Gaulle in 1964.”
