Paris move a severe provocation

The government yesterday expressed strong discontent over, and resolute opposition to, the Paris city council's decision making the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen, calling it a "severe provocation" against the Chinese.

"The move is a gross interference in China's internal affairs and severely hurts the China-France relationship, especially the friendly relations between Beijing and Paris (which are sister cities)," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement after a regular press briefing yesterday.

The Paris city council, led by Mayor Bertrand Delanoe's Socialists and the Green Party, approved a resolution on Monday to bestow "honorary citizenship" to the Dalai Lama. French President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservatives opposed the measure.