Dalai Lama makes less of a splash in Europe

The Dalai Lama's European trip, which kicked off on May 28, has once again caused political ripples in the barely calmed waters of China-Europe relations.

The 11th round of the China-EU Summit was hosted in the Czech capital of Prague on May 20 after being postponed by six months due to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's meeting with the Dalai Lama in defiance of China's opposition. At the summit meeting, Premier Wen Jiabao expressed China's hope that European governments would commit themselves to the avowed principle of non-interference in its internal affairs. The Foreign Ministry has also reaffirmed on many occasions the Chinese side's firm opposition to any form of contact with the Dalai Lama by European political figures.

Regrettably, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen still met with the Dalai Lama, a long-time advocate of Tibet's independence, during his stopover in Denmark. On the last leg of his European trip in France, the city council of Paris conferred honorary citizenship upon the Dalai Lama. The French capital made a similar move last year.