(TibetanReview.net, May01’24) —Ahead of the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state visit, President Emmanuel Macron of France had a brief meeting with the Sikyong (executive head) Mr Penpa Tsering of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) at his official Élysée Palace on Apr 30 evening during an award ceremony.
The occasion was a ceremony to present the National Order of the Legion of Honour awarded to Andre Gattolin, a former French senator known for his strong support for the issue of Tibet.
It was a brief yet consequential visit to Paris for the Tibetan Sikyong, said the CTA, which is effectively the Tibetan government in exile, on its Tibet.net website May 1.
The Sikyong was stated to have presented to Mr Macron an autographed picture of the latter with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, while urging him not to forget Tibet.
Although the main purpose of the Sikyong’s palace visit was the award ceremony, it still remains to be seen how China will react, if at all. China sees any foreign leader’s meeting with an exile Tibetan leader as encouragement of Tibetan independence despite the fact that the latter only seeks autonomy, not independence from Chinese rule.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is paying state visits to France, Serbia and Hungary from May 5 to 10 at the invitation of Mr Macron, President Aleksandar Vucic of the Republic of Serbia and President Tamas Sulyok and Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary.
The upcoming visits show that both China and Europe are striving to explore the space and prospects of cooperation in an era when major power strategic competition intensifies and geopolitics returns, China’s official globaltimes.cn Apr 29 cited Chinese and European experts as saying. The report painted the visits as charting of blueprint for ties.
The visits are expected to shape the future of relations between China and Europe at a time when ties with the USA show little prospects for normalization in the foreseeable future.
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Before Paris, the Sikyong visited Switzerland where he took part in closed-door meetings with prominent leaders and senior officials of the Swiss administration, said another Tibet.net report May 1.
He was also hosted in the Swiss parliament in capital Bern on Apr 29 by its Parliamentary Group for Tibet (PGT). The event was led by Maya Graf, Vice President of the PGT; Barbara Gysi; Fabian Molina, Co-president of the PGT; and Nik Gugger, Co-president of the PGT, joined by the group’s founder 35 years ago, Rene Longet. The Sikyong was also stated to have been hosted a luncheon in the parliament building.
The Sikyong was also stated to have had a dinner engagement later in the evening with Eric Nussbaumer, the Speaker of the Swiss National Council, or lower house of parliament.
The Sikyong also met with the Tibetan community in the country, delivering a speech and answering their questions on a range of issues.