Confusion over Sarkozy's December meeting with Dalai Lama

According to a national Sunday newspaper here in France, the Dalai Lama will not be meeting the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, on December 10.

Sarkozy's office was quick to react, saying an official invitation had been sent. But a spokesman for the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said none had been received and the Dalai Lama would not be available on the proposed date.

The two men are supposed to meet during celebrations in Paris to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10 - an event to which a number of Nobel peace prize laureates have been invited.

The Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1989.

But the national Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche reported that at the moment the Dalai Lama had "no plans to visit France during that period, no official invitation had been received and no hotels had been reserved for the Tibetan delegation."

Moreover the Dalai Lama's representative in France, Wangpo Bashi, also confirmed that no formal request to attend had been received, and he told the news agency, Agence France Presse (AFP), that there was already another visit scheduled for December 10.

"We haven't received any official written invitation and at the moment we cannot add anything more to a diary that is already very full," he told AFP

"In any case, December 10 will be impossible because he'll be in Poland on that date, although a meeting some time around then would be imaginable because he will be in Europe," he added.

The Dalai Lama is due in Poland on December 8 to receive an honorary doctorate from the Southern Polish city of Krakow's, Jagiellonian University. He is also due to visit the country's capital, Warsaw and the western city of Wroclaw.

In a statement released shortly after the newspaper article appeared, Sarkozy's office at the Elysée palace gave quite a different version of events.

It maintained it had confirmed with an emissary of the Dalai Lama that he would be in Paris in December to mark the 60th anniversary and would meet Sarkozy.

"Only reasons of health had not allowed the Dalai Lama at the moment to confirm his presence in December," the statement said.

Last month the 73-year-old underwent surgery to remove gallstones and afterwards was advised by doctors to make fewer foreign trips and to rest.

The whole confusion over a possible meeting between the two men could have been avoided had Sarkozy agreed to one back in August when the Dalai Lama Spent 12 days in France.

At the time there was controversy both at home and abroad when Sarkozy declined a meeting - a choice that was reportedly accepted by both sides prior to the Dalai Lama's arrival on the grounds that it would be inappropriate timing as the trip coincided with the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Instead it was Sarkozy's wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, along with the foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, and the junior minister for human rights, Rama Yade, who met the Dalai Lama when they attended the opening of a Buddhist temple in southern France.

Carla meets the Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama may for one reason or another not have got to meet the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy during his current trip to France, but on Friday morning he met the unofficial and undeclared stand-in of sorts, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

France's first lady was among the around 2,000 guests invited to attend the opening ceremony of a new Buddhist temple in the town of Roqueredonde in southern France.

Among the other guests were a host of personalities including French actresses Juliette Binoche and Line Renaud and the former model Inès de la Fressangeas. But also present were a couple of current and former members of Sarkozy's government.

Seated next to Bruni Sarkozy were the foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, and the junior minister for human rights, Rama Yade. Both had initially toed the government line and declared they would probably not be attending, but just last week they announced that they would be present at the inauguration of the temple - the largest Buddhist centre in Europe.

Bruni-Sarkozy's presence was interpreted by many here as a diplomatic solution for the French president to avoid upsetting the Chinese government, whom he has been pressing for several months to reopen discussions with representatives of the exiled spiritual leader after the crackdown in Tibet by security forces in March.

After the ceremony, Bruni-Sarkozy had a private audience with the Dalai Lama and was later joined by Kouchner - a declared personal friend of the former Nobel peace prize winner.

The attendance of both Kouchner and Yade was the first official contact the Dalai Lama has had with members of the French government during this trip although he met a delegation of parliamentarians last week.

Part of the problem with the Dalai Lama's 12-day visit, which ends on Saturday, and the reason it has been covered so much in the French media, is of course the fact that although it is strictly a religious one, there have from the outset been political undertones.

Sarkozy's office maintained before the visit that the timing made a personal meeting with the Dalai Lama inappropriate as the trip occurred during the Olympic games in Beijing. And that was reportedly also a choice accepted by both the Dalai Lama and the French president.

The two men will however meet in France later this year on December 10.

French government split over Dalai Lama's visit

There was a double announcement on Thursday, which somehow contradicted much the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has said so far about the 12-day visit of the Dalai Lama to France.

Two of his government ministers have now said they are eager to meet Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader before he leaves.

Rama Yade, the outspoken juior minister for human rights told national radio in the morning that her office was looking into the possibility of a meeting with the Dalai Lama and she wanted to take advantage of his presence in the country for a face-to-face.

And in the afternoon representatives of the Dalai Lama himself said that the foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, had been in touch to try to organise a meeting with the former Nobel peace prize winner in the western French city of Nantes on August 20.

Both moves are quite a turnaround from the position taken by Sarkozy who has said he would not meet the Dalai Lama during his current trip but has announced a meeting later in the year on December 10.

Sarkozy’s office had said that the timing of the visit made a meeting inappropriate because it came during the Olympic games in Beijing, and it had been a choice accepted by both the French president and the Dalai Lama not to meet.

And the government line was also toed on Wednesday when the Dalai Lama met a delegation of French parliamentarians, but not as part of an official reception.

In a sense though the move by both ministers is not so unexpected. Both had previously said that they would welcome a personal meeting with the Dalai Lama during his visit, but remained quiet once Sarkozy had taken his decision.

Kouchner is not only a world famous humanitarian himself, he is also a declared personal friend of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.

Yade has expressed views in the past year which have at times seemed to contradict the official government line.

Sarkozy to meet Dalai Lama - in December

He might not be meeting the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, during his current 12-day trip to France, but the Dalai Lama will have the chance to come face-to-face with him in December.

Representatives for Tibet's exiled spiritual leader and Sarkozy's office have confirmed that the two men will meet on December 10, when the French president is due to hold a reception for Nobel peace prize winners in Paris.

That will probably be of some comfort to a man who has accepted with the good grace for which he is famous, the decision of the French government not to hold any official reception for him during his current visit.

That choice was made - and accepted by both sides - ahead of his arrival, on the grounds that it would be inappropriate timing during, coinciding as the trip does with the Olympic games in Beijing.

At a press conference on Tuesday, the Dalai Lama once again confirmed his full support for the Olympic games - reiterating his belief that China had always merited the decision taken by the IOC to organise the games.

Sarkozy has also been eager to avoid unnecessarily upsetting the Chinese government, although he has also made clear that is not for Beijing to "set his diary."

On Wednesday, the Dalai Lama met a delegation of French parliamentarians, although again it was not as part of an official reception as the president of the Senate, Christian Poncelet, toed the government line and slapped a veto on a formal ceremony.

From Friday, the Dalai Lama will give a series of teachings in the western French city of Nantes and on Saturday he's due to meet the defeated Socialist party candidate in last year's French presidential elections, Ségolène Royal.

Some critics are suggesting that Royal is perhaps using the meeting as a possibility for some political point scoring ahead of the Socialist party's vote in November on a new leader for the party.

On August 22 it'll be the turn of France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, to meet the Dalai Lama when she attends the opening of a Buddhist temple in southern France.

French politicians give Dalai Lama’s visit the cold shoulder

On Monday Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, starts a 12-day trip to France and in what could be interpreted as heavy-handed diplomacy, French politicians will all but shun him during his stay.

All right, so the visit is largely religious and the Dalai Lama himself is reported here in Monday’s press as not wanting to poison relations between Paris and Beijing, but at first sight it does seem rather extraordinary that he won’t be meeting a single member of the government.

After all the 73-year old former Nobel peace prize winner is widely respected and recognised as the incarnation worldwide of non—violence.

Take a closer look though, and there could be some other factors in play as to why he’s not being greeted officially.

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has already said he won’t be meeting him, although in a neat move he’s sending his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, to attend the opening of a Buddhist temple on August 22.

While Sarkozy might appear not to want to anger the Chinese, whose ambassador to France said just last month there would be “grave consequences” if he met the Dalai Lama, he may also be trying to play a delicate behind-the-scenes diplomatic game.

That would go some way to explaining why he has so far felt unable to follow the example of other world leaders such as Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel, Britain’s prime minister Gordon Brown, or US president, George W. Bush all of whom have officially greeted the Dalai Lama on visits to their countries.

Sarkozy hasn’t left the door completely shut, and isn’t ruling out a meeting with the Dalai Lama at some unspecified date in the future – perhaps even by the end of this year. He’s also known to want to get the Chinese talking again at least to representatives of the Dalai Lama and that could well be what he’s working towards.

And a representative of the Dalai Lama in France, Wangpo Bashi, has intimated as much in his statements to the press here, confirming that a meeting between the two men during the Olympic games wouldn’t exactly be the most appropriate timing.

Discussions are still underway apparently to fix a meeting between the two men at some point, just not now.

So this is perhaps the reason nobody from the government is meeting him.

Not even the French foreign minister and world-renowned humanitarian, Bernard Kouchner, who has failed to pencil in a face-to-face with a man he has often in the past declared to be one of his friends. Nor has the usually outspoken junior minister for human rights, Rama Yade, planned a meeting, even though she had previously said it might be a possibility.

The only political element of this obviously non-political visit, coming just as the Olympic games are in full swing, will be a meeting with members of one of the French chambers of parliament – the Senate – on Thursday.


Apart from that, the Dalai Lama will visit Buddhist centres and give a series of conferences and teachings from the western French city of Nantes from August 15-20, which will be retransmitted in the Internet and translated into eight languages.


On August 22 he will open a Buddhist temple in the town of Roqueredonde in southern France.

There are around 600,000 practising Buddhists in France, three quarters of whom are of Asian origin according to the Buddhist Union of France

Since 1982 the Dalai Lama has been to France on at least 12 occasions, and the last time he was officially received by a French president was in 1993, by François Mitterrand.