(AFP) – Aug 13, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — The Dalai Lama accused China on Wednesday of pursuing a crackdown in Tibet in spite of the Olympic Games, French lawmakers said following talks with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

Asked during a private meeting at the Paris Senate whether China was respecting the "Olympic truce", the Dalai Lama's "answer was very clear: no," said former French justice minister Robert Badinter.

"While the Games are taking place, the oppression of the Tibetan people and repression continue," said the opposition lawmaker, who oversaw the abolition of the death penalty in France.

The 73-year-old Buddhist leader, who arrived on Monday for a 12-day visit to France, spoke of "terrible repression that has not stopped despite the Olympic truce," said Socialist deputy Jean-Louis Bianco.

The Dalai Lama described "arbitrary arrests, summary executions and torture to the death" and a "very strong reinforcement of the military and police presence across historic Tibet," said a statement issued later by the Senate.

He also claimed China was planning, after the end of the Beijing Olympics, to send a million mainland Chinese nationals to settle in Tibet, it said.

Speaking to reporters earlier, the Buddhist leader said his envoys voiced "disappointment" following their latest round of talks with Chinese leaders on the status of Tibet in July.

"The Chinese government dismiss, simply dismiss this Tibetan issue. It is very sad," he said.

But he insisted that "still we want to keep talks with China", saying he was "looking forward" to September, when the Tibetan parliament-in-exile meets to discuss its next step in dealing with China.

The Dalai Lama's 90-minute meeting with 40 French lawmakers was the main political encounter of his French trip.

But a minister announced Wednesday that President Nicolas Sarkozy would host the Tibetan spiritual leader at a ceremony for Nobel peace laureates in Paris on December 10.

Roger Karoutchi, secretary of state for relations with parliament, made the announcement, but did not say whether the two would meet face to face. Sarkozy's office did not confirm plans for a meeting.

Planned more than two years ago, the Dalai Lama's French visit suddenly turned political after a Chinese crackdown on unrest in Tibet in March that sparked international outrage.

Sarkozy was accused of giving in to Chinese pressure by not meeting the Buddhist leader, instead sending his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to see him inaugurate a Buddhist temple in southern France next week.

The Dalai Lama's entourage said he did not seek a meeting with Sarkozy to avoid angering China.

As he left the Senate, the Dalai Lama said he would be in Poland on December 10, but that he would "like" to come to Paris.

Asked by a journalist what he expected of France, he quipped in return: "What can you do?", laughing as he climbed into his car.

France is struggling to mend ties with China frayed by Sarkozy's initial threat to boycott the opening of the Beijing Games, together with pro-Tibet protests during the passage of the Olympic flame through Paris.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said Wednesday he hoped that "France can properly handle Tibet-related issues."

Earlier the Dalai Lama warned the international community "must not isolate" the world's most populous nation, but had a "responsibility to bring China into (the) mainstream of world democracy."

"On certain principles... democracy, human rights, religious freedom, rule of law... we must be firm," he told reporters.

The Buddhist leader will spend most of his remaining 10 days in France teaching in the western city of Nantes, where he will meet former presidential candidate Segolene Royal on Saturday.

On Tuesday, the Dalai Lama gave his blessing to a new Buddhist temple south of Paris, the largest in a country that is home to an estimated 770,000 Buddhists, three quarters of them of Asian origin.

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