While many in China remain angry over Olympic torch protests and foreign media coverage of the Tibet unrest, high-level government officials from France and China are trying to make amends for bilateral tensions. From AFP:
China called on France Thursday to cooperate to bring troubled relations back on track as the two sides held high-level talks amid tensions over Tibet and the Paris Olympic torch protests.
President Hu Jintao, in a meeting with French Senate leader Christian Poncelet, complained about raucous demonstrations against China’s control of Tibet that marred the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay in early April.
“A series of unfriendly things towards the Chinese people happened in Paris recently, especially when the Olympic torch relay visited Paris,” Hu was quoted by state-run television as telling Poncelet.
See also a Xinhua report on Poncelet’s visit and a report from Reuters which says French President Sarkozy recently expressed his “shock” over the violence in Tibet to China’s leaders, and is trying to foster negotiations between Beijing and the Dalai Lama.
