China irked over German politicians' plan to meet Dalai Lama

A Chinese diplomat on Friday criticised some German politicians' decision to meet with the Dalai Lama during his five-day visit to the country.



German Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said China also had formally protested a minister's planned meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.



When Chancellor Angela Merkel met the Dalai Lama at her office in September, it caused a temporary chill in Chinese-German relations.



This time, Merkel is in Latin America and will not meet with the Dalai Lama, who is in Germany to give a series of lectures. Germany's foreign minister and president also plan no meeting with him.



But Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul is scheduled to meet the Dalai Lama on Monday, and already he has met with two state governors from Merkel's conservative party and the president of Germany's parliament.



Zhang Junhui, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Berlin, said on ARD television that German officials should not be giving the Dalai Lama an official reception, saying it went against Germany's "one-China policy."



"We are decidedly against any official reception for the Dalai Lama in Germany, because we are of the opinion that the Dalai, despite his statements denying independence as a goal, is committed to the independence of Tibet," Zhang said.



Peschke said the Chinese Embassy had made a formal diplomatic representation to Germany's Foreign Ministry along similar lines.

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