Minorities must not hinder ties: Envoy

Former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said on Saturday he would tell his president that no minority should be allowed to impair the relationship between China and France.

Raffarin, Nicolas Sarkozy's special envoy, arrived in China on a four-day visit last Thursday amid rising anti-French sentiment whipped up by recent disruptions to the Olympic torch relay in Paris and that city's bestowal of honorary citizenship on the Dalai Lama.

"No one! Even those from the minorities have the right to dally with the Sino-French friendship," Raffarin told a briefing when asked what message he would send back to the Elysee Palace.