By IANS
New Delhi : France’s Socialist Party leader Ségolène Royal Friday discussed the situation in Tibet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and underlined a “disconnect” between the Olympic ethos and alleged Chinese repression in Lhasa.
Manmohan Singh stated India’s position on resolving the Tibetan issue through dialogue and the Tibetans’ right to hold peaceful protests in India, official sources said. Singh also underlined India’s growing relations with China and reiterated that the Tibet Autonomous Region is part of China.
“There is a contradiction between the Olympic spirit of peace and fraternity and Chinese repression in Tibet,” Royal, a presidential contender in the 2007 French polls, told reporters here after her meeting with the prime minister.
Royal exhorted democratic countries in the world to stand up for Tibetans’ right to cultural autonomy and spoke out against repression and disregard for cultural identity of the Tibetans by China.
“The Olympic Games represent a meeting of cultures and a worldwide peace movement. There should be a coherence between the values of the game and the attitude of the political regimes,” she said.
Calling for transparency and freedom of expression in Tibet, Royal said: “Public sentiment is reflected in the disruptions of the Olympic torch relay in Paris and other parts of the world.”
“The threat of boycott (by some countries) will have its effect,” she said. Many leaders, like British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have made it clear they will not attend the opening ceremony in Beijing to protest against the Chinese attitude towards Tibet.
“China is now an economic power. Many countries want to do business with it. But that doesn’t mean that a democracy should be kneeling down to do business,” the 54-year-old leader of the Socialist Party said.
Royal later met Tempa Tsering, the envoy of Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama in New Delhi, and his sister and expressed support for the Tibetan cause.
Royal, president of Poitou-Charentes region of France, came to India this week with a large delegation of leaders and experts on developmental issues.
She contested last year’s presidential election as the Socialist Party’s candidate against Sarkozy. But she lost and France missed the opportunity of electing a woman as its first president.
Royal and her delegation visited Chennai and a number of places in the state where projects have been undertaken to rehabilitate and help those affected by the 2005 tsunami that killed hundreds of people.