Westerners "must know Tibet reality"

Source: China Daily | 04-04-2009 11:43

BEIJING, April 4 -- Westerners need to know more about "the reality of Tibet" and the fact that it was a "slave society over 60 years ago", French Ambassador to China Herve Ladsous said in Beijing on Friday.

He reiterated that France has never supported "Tibet independence" since Beijing and Paris established diplomatic ties in 1964.

"It has been consistent with our policy that there is only one China and Tibet is an integral part of the People's Republic (of China)," Ladsous told China Daily.

Sino-French ties soured dramatically after Tibetan separatists disturbed the torch relay of the Beijing Olympics in Paris last April.

Eight months later, China suspended most contacts and called off the 11th Sino-EU summit after French President Nicolas Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama in early December.

But amid the global financial crisis, ties have started to improve.