China sent another strong warning to France yesterday, hinting that a planned meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Dalai Lama could have a broad effect on ties between the two countries.
China’s latest salvo in its campaign to isolate the Tibetan leader and punish Sarkozy came two days ahead of tomorrow’s meeting in the Polish city of Gdansk.
Beijing had demanded that Sarkozy cancel the meeting and called off a major China-EU summit planned for this week to register its dissatisfaction. That sparked fears among French business groups that trade ties could suffer — as they did between China and Germany after German Chancellor Angela Merkel met the Dalai Lama in Berlin last year.
At a regular news conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (劉建超) said China hoped France “will create positive conditions for developing overall China-French relations and not create an impact on long-term development of ties that would harm the interests of people from the two countries.”
Paris, which holds the rotating EU presidency, must give “sincere consideration to the Chinese concerns and the position taken by China and take real action to improve China-French relations and ensure the development of China-EU relations,” Liu said.
China has been keeping mum on whether it plans to reduce its trade with France in retaliation, although Liu in his comments said economic and trade ties “rested on the basis of mutual benefit.”
He would not comment on any further impact of the Gdansk meeting, but the cancelation of the EU summit essentially paralyzed cooperation with the bloc.
Up to 200 Chinese business executives had been expected to meet with European counterparts on the fringes of the summit.
Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama met Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme on Wednesday and was scheduled to address the European Parliament in Brussels yesterday.
The meeting with Leterme was a 25-minute courtesy call at the prime minister’s official residence, a Belgian government spokesman said.
“He was received as a spiritual figure. What was said will remain between them,” he said.
The showpiece of the 73-year-old Buddhist leader’s visit to Brussels was to be yesterday’s speech in front of the European Parliament, as part of the chamber’s year of intercultural dialogue.
Later in the day, he was expected to visit the Belgian parliament.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats