China decries Dalai Lama's demands for autonomy

BEIJING (Reuters) - China says there is no chance of embracing the Dalai Lama's demands for autonomy for Tibet, using the state media to condemn the exiled Buddhist leader's stance ahead of his meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Two commentaries issued by the official Xinhua news agency on Thursday were the latest blast in Beijing's campaign against the Dalai Lama, who demands "high-level autonomy" for his mountain homeland, giving Tibetans self-rule under Chinese sovereignty.

Chinese officials denounced the Dalai Lama's position after his envoys presented them in a "Memorandum for all Tibetans to enjoy genuine autonomy" during talks last month.

Now Beijing has issued the longer official counter-blasts ahead of the Dalai Lama's trip to Poland, where he will meet Sarkozy on Saturday.

China has demanded that Sarkozy pull out of the meeting and called off Monday's long-planned summit with the European Union in Lyons in protest.

The Xinhua commentaries claim the Dalai Lama ignores the religious and political freedoms that China affords Tibetans and say accepting his demands would risk dangerous ethnic splits.

"By waving the banner of implementing ethnic regional autonomy in China, insisting on political demands for a so-called 'greater Tibet' and 'high-level autonomy', the Dalai Lama is totally violating the fundamental interests of the Tibetan people," one of the commentaries said. "This has no future."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Sarkozy's proposed meeting with the Dalai Lama had caused "a lot of dissatisfaction" with the Chinese people.

"We hope the French side can pay attention to the Chinese public's calls for justice," he told a news briefing.