Paris councillor criticizes hanging of Tibetan flag in front of City Hall

PARIS, March 10 (Chinese media) -- Alain Destrem, a

councillor, on Tuesday criticized the Paris City Council's motion to hang a

Tibetan flag in front of the City Hall, which he said would harm China-French

relations.

In January 2006, the council

adopted a motion to hang a Tibetan flag every March 10.

Paris councillor Alain Destrem (2nd R)

speaks in front of the City Hall in Paris, March 10, 2009. Destrem

condemned on Tuesday the hanging of the so-called "Tibet independence"

flag in front of the Paris City Hall on March 10 every year, which

rampantly intervenes in China's internal affairs and hurts the feelings of

the Chinese people.(Chinese media/Zhang Yuwei)
Photo Gallery

"The motion could only end in two results: hurting

the Chinese people's feelings and feeding the French press," Destrem, who is

also vice president of the ruling UMP party, said during a council debate.

The Tibetan region is an integral part of China, he

said. "What will you say if Chinese authorities constantly interfere in France's

internal political affairs? What will you think if, for example, the Chinese

government constantly tells France how to handle a crisis in its overseas

territories?"

He asked the council to remove the Tibetan flag,

which is a "provocation" to the Chinese.

Hours later, two people of Chinese origin arrived in

front of the City Hall, and tore down the Tibetan flag in order to express their

indignation toward the City Council's interference in China's internal affairs.

Destrem was pleased with the act. "I will file, in

the name of myself and in the name of an elected Parisian, an anti-motion of the

January 2006 one, because such useless provocations should be abolished," he

said.

On March 10, 1959, the Dalai

Lama and his supporters launched an armed rebellion in Tibet to block reform of

the feudal serfdom there and split the region from China, but the Chinese

central government swiftly foiled the attempt.

What a hell of Dalai Lama's crisis

management?

BEIJING, March 10 (Chinese media) -- Enjoying celebrity

like a Hollywood star, the Dalai Lama can by no means be too patient for only

one day to the negligence of world media which are occupied by economic concerns

since the global financial crisis.

His time to shine comes in March, an eventful month

in Tibetan history. The aura around him captured limelight again when on Tuesday

he, with his supernatural power as a divine monk, turned a happy land into "hell

on earth." Full story

For whom is Tibet a "hell on

earth"?

LHASA, March 10 (Chinese media) -- Tuesday is a special

date for Tibetans. For the 2.8 million residents in the southwest China

autonomous region, it marks 50 years since feudal serfdom was abolished; but for

the 14th Dalai Lama and his "government-in-exile," it marks five decades of

futile attempts at independence.

Fifty years after he fled China and having failed

time and again to foment widespread unrest in Tibet and other Tibetan

communities in western China, the Dalai Lama is apparently at his wit's end. Full story

Dalai Lama is not qualified for

talking about human rights

BEIJING, March 6 (Chinese media) -- As the most unstable element

for Tibet and representative of serf owners, the Dalai Lama is not qualified for

talking about human rights, said a senior official here Friday afternoon.

"There is no historical evidence or present ground for the

so called 'Greater Tibet' and 'high degree of autonomy', which are also against

the will of the Tibetan people," Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet

Autonomous Region, told a press conference on sideline with the annual session

of the National People's Congress (NPC).

Dalai Lama group's sabotage biggest

obstacle to Tibet's development

BEIJING, March 6 (Chinese media) -- Sabotage from the Dalai Lama

group remains the biggest obstacle in the way of Tibet's development, Lhasa

Mayor Doje Cezhug said Friday.

Doje made the remarks at a panel discussion of lawmakers

from Tibet.

China says door for talks open to

Dalai Lama

BEIJING, March 3 (Chinese media) -- China on Tuesday reiterated

that its policy on the Dalai Lama was consistent and clear, saying the door for

talks remains open.

"As an effort to accommodate the requests of the Dalai

Lama, the Chinese central government held three rounds of talks with private

envoys of the Dalai Lama last year," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang

told the regular briefing.