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Carla, not Nicolas, Sarkozy to meet Dalai Lama

By Steven Erlanger | IHT

France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy speaks next to his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy as they visit Rungis wholesale market near ParisReuters file photo

Instead, his office said, Sarkozy’s wife, Carla, would meet with the exiled Tibetan leader, taking part in a religious ceremony to open a Buddhist temple in southern France on Aug. 22. Sarkozy’s political party, however, said that the French president would meet the Dalai Lama before the end of the year.

France is the current president of the European Union, and Sarkozy is representing Europe in Beijing as well. In the name of the European Union, he has already sent a list of human-rights activists and prisoners of concern to the Chinese authorities, and he will have separate meetings on Friday with President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

After the Chinese crackdown on Tibetan protests earlier this year, Sarkozy threatened to boycott the opening ceremony of the games, but decided to go after representatives of China and the Dalai Lama held formal, if inconclusive, talks. Other members of the European Union wanted him to attend as well, his office said.

In an interview with Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, published on Thursday, Sarkozy praised the Chinese organization of the games. He has said that the West needs Chinese help on issues from Darfur to Iran, and that “China deserves respect.”

Copyright © 2008 International Herald Tribune

Published in International Herald Tribune