The Dalai Lama accused China on Wednesday of pursuing its crackdown in Tibet in spite of the Olympic Games, French lawmakers said following talks with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.Asked during a private meeting at the Paris Senate whether China was respecting the “Olympic truce”, the Dalai Lama’s “answer was very clear: no,” said former French justice minister Robert Badinter.“While the Games are taking place, the oppression of the Tibetan people and repression continue,” said the opposition lawmaker, who oversaw abolition of death penalty in France.The 73-year-old Buddhist leader, who arrived Monday for a 12-day visit to France, “described terrible repression that has not stopped despite the Olympic truce,” added Socialist deputy Jean-Louis Bianco.“Since March there have been arrests, executions and a fearsome reinforcement of China’s military presence.”He said the Buddhist leader suggested China was planning an “accelerated policy of colonisation, with perhaps a million extra Chinese who would come to occupy Tibet and dilute the Tibetan population.”The Dalai Lama’s 90-minute talks with French lawmakers, held in a small room at the Senate rather than a main reception suite, were the only political encounter of a trip that falls squarely during the Beijing Olympics.But Roger Karoutchi, secretary of state for relations with parliament, said in a statement that “President Nicolas Sarkozy of the republic will receive all Nobel peace prize winners, including the Dalai Lama, in Paris on December 10.” He did not specify whether the two men would meet face to face. Sarkozy’s office did not confirm plans for a meeting.
