By KUNA
Paris : French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner announced here Tuesday that he called on the Chinese foreign minister counterpart Yang Jiechi to allow journalists in the troubled Tibet.
Speaking to Europe 1 radio, the Minister indicated that he had a long talk on Monday with his Chinese counterpart over this issue and that the response he got was “there are security issues”.
Furhermore, Kouchner described the Chinese operations in Tibet as “not tolerable” but reiterated his countrys stance that it is against boycotting the Beijing Olympics.
He was quoted telling the radio that even the Dalai Lama does not want the Olympic Games to be boycotted, saying that he did not want to be “more Tibetan than the Dalai Lama”.
Kouchner had stressed last week the importance that press access to Tibet and the surrounding regions be allowed by Chinese authorities.
China has been rounding up foreign correspondents and removing them from the area, both from inside Tibet and the neighbouring zones that have a large Tibetan population and where riots are also taking place.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy called here yesterday for self-restraint and an end to violence in Tibet, adding that “France is available to facilitate the resumption of dialogue within the framework of the strategic French-Chinese partnership”.
Up to 130 people were killed in the recent clashes between protesters and Chinese authorities in Tibet according to Tibet’s India-based government in exile, whereas the Chinese government says that only 19 people died in the riots.