China complains about Rome award for Dalai Lama

BEIJING: China complained Tuesday after Rome made the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen, saying the decision offended the Chinese.
China accuses the Tibetan spiritual leader of backing separatists in Tibet, and speaks out loudly whenever he receives an award or meets a world leader.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate received the honor during a ceremony Monday in which Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno also pledged his support for the Dalai Lama's struggle to seek greater autonomy for Tibet.
Alemanno presented the Dalai Lama with a small statue of the she-wolf, a symbol of Rome.
"We express strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news conference. She said the award had "offended the Chinese people."
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Beijing canceled a China-EU summit late last year after French President Nicolas Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama.
"We hope the Italian side will take seriously China's concern and take effective measures immediately to eliminate negative impacts and safeguard sound and stable development of bilateral relations," Jiang said.
She did not say what the negative impacts could be.
In Rome, the Foreign Ministry reaffirmed that it "firmly backs" a "one-China policy" and said Italy's municipalities "are autonomous and make decisions independently from the government."
The Dalai Lama was in Venice on Tuesday where he also was to receive honorary citizenship.
The awards come ahead of a sensitive time in Tibet. Next month marks the 40th anniversary of a failed uprising there against Chinese rule. The Dalai Lama was forced to flee into exile in India after the uprising was crushed.
There were violent riots in Tibet's capital of Lhasa last March.