China Cancels Eu Summit Over Dalai Lama Visit

China stunned European leaders yesterday by calling off a major summit because the Dalai Lama would be visiting Europe at the same time.

The office of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, the EU president, announced yesterday that the talks in Lyon next Monday had been canceled because the Beijing leadership was furious that Sarkozy planned to meet the Tibetan leader next week in Poland. The snub followed weeks of diplomatic jousting over the visit by the Dalai Lama, who plans to go to the European parliament and is to meet Sarkozy at a meeting of Nobel peace prizewinners in Gdansk next week.

"Nicolas Sarkozy is free to decide his agenda," said a French presidential spokesman, Luc Chatel. "He will meet the Nobel prizewinners, so he will meet the Dalai Lama in that framework."

An expert on Chinese policy described the cancellation of the talks as an "aggressive move that would play into the sorry spectacle of European disunity" over policy towards China. François Godement, from Sciences Po Paris at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said: "China's decision to cancel its scheduled summit meeting with the EU is a spectacular gesture and an unprecedented step."

Beijing warned Sarkozy a fortnight ago that the summit was in jeopardy. A senior Chinese official went to Paris last week to try to dissuade Sarkozy from the meeting. On Tuesday the Chinese foreign ministry issued a veiled warning to the French.

"The Tibet issue is an internal affair," a Chinese government spokesman said. "China and France should overcome all unnecessary disturbances and safeguard the interests of bilateral relations ... we oppose any foreign leaders having any contact with the Dalai."

The talks were expected to focus on disputes linked to China's huge trade surplus with the EU and on coordinating international action to counter the global economic crisis. Senior central bankers and finance officials on both sides were to discuss global finances.

It had been clear for several days that the summit was in trouble, but it was only yesterday morning that the Chinese told the French that the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, would not be traveling to Lyon.

The snub was a setback to Sarkozy, who is relishing his role in the EU presidency to parade as a world leader and crisis manager. The cancellation means that Europe and China will fail to hold an annual summit for the first time in 11 years.

The EU said it had "ambitious aims" for the summit and regretted the cancellation. "The ball's in China's court," said a spokeswoman, "but the door remains open."

Relations between China and Europe have been fraught since Sarkozy took over the EU presidency in July, his term coinciding with the Beijing Olympics and the aftermath of the Chinese crackdown on unrest in Tibet.

As EU president, Sarkozy said he was contemplating boycotting the Olympics, although he attended in the end. Last April pro-Tibetan demonstrators disrupted the Olympic torch's passage through Paris on route to Beijing, and in June the Chinese leadership spurned EU demands that it negotiate with the Dalai Lama.

Tibet's spiritual leader visited France in August and had a meeting with Carla Bruni, Sarkozy's wife, as well as Bernard Kouchner, the foreign minister.

Chinese anger at the perceived affronts from France and Europe was reinforced further last month when the European parliament awarded its main human rights prize to the Chinese dissident Hu Jia.