China lodged a strong protest against French president Nicolas Sarkozy's weekend meeting with the Dalai Lama, Chinese vice foreign minister He Yafei said today.
"The French side should make some concrete actions to correct its mistakes from the damage to the China-French bilateral relations and Sino-EU relations," Mr He said in comments broadcast on state-run CCTV.
Yesterday, Mr Sarkozy - whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union - met the Dalai Lama and said Europe shared the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader's concerns over the situation in his homeland.
In a separate statement, China's foreign ministry said: "The wrongful actions by the French side wantonly interfered with China's internal affairs, and severely injured the national sentiments of Chinese people. The Chinese government expresses firm opposition and strong dissatisfaction with it."
Reuters