France appeals for calm from China over Dalai Lama meeting

(PARIS) - France appealed for calm Sunday after China strongly protested President Nicolas Sarkozy's meeting with the Dalai Lama, with the human rights minister saying there was no need for "psycho-drama."

China reacted angrily to Sarkozy's meeting with the Tibetan spiritual leader on Saturday, saying it had seriously undermined Bejing's relations with France and Europe.

"There is no need for psycho-drama," human rights minister Rama Yade said in an interview to French LCI television.

"The Dalai Lama is not a dangerous man. He is a man of peace, of non-violence, who has been awarded the Nobel prize for peace."

Yade stressed that China and France must pool their efforts to tackle the global financial crisis instead of feuding over Tibet.

"We need to cooperate, calmly," she said.

Sarkozy is the first European head of state to meet the Dalai Lama while holding the European Union's rotating presidency. He sat down with him for 30 minutes in the Polish city of Gdansk, on the sidelines of a gathering of Nobel Peace prize winners.

China considers talks with the Dalai Lama as meddling in internal affairs and has branded the Buddhist leader a separatist, despite his claims that he is seeking autonomy and not independence for the Himalayan region.

Bejing last month cancelled an EU-summit that was to be held under France's EU presidency in Lyon on December 1 to protest Sarkozy's meeting.

Economy Minister Christine Lagarde earlier stressed that economic relations should be spared from reprisals.

"We have very important trade relations with them, in terms of imports and exports," Lagarde told France 2 television.

"There are many French businesses working in China and I believe that it is in everyone's interest that this relationship continues, despite what China considers to be a minor incident," she said.

Sarkozy has been struggling to strike a balance between keeping relations with China on an even keel, while deflecting criticism at home of being soft on Beijing on the issue of human rights.

The French ambassador to China was summoned to the foreign ministry in Beijing and told that the meeting "undermined the political foundations of Sino-French and Sino-European ties," Chinese state-run CCTV reported.

Sarkozy risked a new flare-up of Chinese anger after mass demonstrations at French stores earlier this year.

There were Chinese boycotts of French products after pro-Tibet protests in April marred the Olympic torch relay in Paris and Sarkozy threatened to stay away from the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics.

The French leader in the end attended the Olympics ceremony and sent his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to meet with the Dalai Lama when he visited France in August.