Tibet: Dalai Lama made honorary citizen of Paris

Paris city hall made Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen on Monday, exacerbating tensions between France and China in the build up to the Beijing Olympics.

The motion to honor the Dalai Lama was backed by the city's Socialist mayor Bertrand Delanoe and his environmentalist allies but was not supported by President Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right party or Communist councilors, Reuters reported.

Relations between France and China have suffered badly in the wake of big pro-Tibetan protests that disrupted the passage of the Olympic flame through Paris earlier this month.

Angered by the Chinese reaction to the demonstrations, mayor Delanoe pushed to make the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen.

Source: FOCUS News Agency

Mike Hitchen, Mike Hitchen Consulting Publisher of
i On Global Trends and Sydney Irresistible