By IRNA
Berlin : The German government has frozen partial official contacts with China in the wake of the Chinese security crackdown in Tibet.
German Development Aid Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul was quoted as saying Monday that a planned government meeting with China, set to take place in May, would be postponed until the violence ends in Tibet.
“Violence can never be a solution. Both sides can only reach a solution through dialogue. Under these circumstances, government negotiations are hardly imaginable,” Wieczorek-Zeul was cited by her ministry.
The German Development Aid Ministry had reportedly pledged 67.5 million euros for China to combat environmental pollution.
German-Chinese ties were only normalized in late January after Beijing called off a series of high-ranking meetings, protesting Chancellor Angela Merkel’s talks with Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama in Berlin last September.
In other related news, deputy government spokesman Thomas Steg called on both sides in Tibet for “restraint, respecting human rights and refraining from using violence.”
Talking to journalists in Berlin, the Merkel spokesperson made clear that Germany’s stance on the conflict in Tibet remained “unchanged.”
Earlier, the German government rejected calls for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics following China’s security clampdown in Tibet.
While the German government backs Tibetan demands for cultural and religious autonomy, it also supports the territorial integrity of China as laid out in its one-China policy..
The German government has repeatedly stressed that an isolation of China would lead to nothing.
It has urged a “peaceful and political dialogue aimed at finding a sustainable solution” to the Tibetan crisis.
On Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed concern over the violence in Tibet, urging restraint by Chinese security forces and Tibetan demonstrators.
“It does not matter from which side violence comes, it will not lead to solutions to the outstanding issues,” Merkel was quoted saying on the official homepage of the German government.