EU chief says China had no reason to cancel summit

(PARIS) - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said Sunday that the Dalai Lama's meetings with European leaders was not a good enough excuse for China to call off a planned summit with the EU last week.

"I regret this position taken by China," Barroso told RTL radio.

"We know that they are extremely sensitive about Tibet and links with the Dalai Lama but we do not see this as a sufficient reason" to call off the summit, he added.

China scrapped a summit planned for the French city of Lyon on Monday, complaining particularly about plans by France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, current head of the EU, to meet the exiled Tibetan leader in Poland on December 6.

"China firmly opposes any contacts with the Dalai Lama by foreign leaders in whatever form," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement Friday.

Barroso said it was "completely natural" to want to meet the Dalai Lama and that he had no reason to criticise Sarkozy.

"He has the right to meet whoever he wants," said the European Commission president who insisted that the EU was not questioning China's sovereignty over Tibet.