Despite Chinese protests, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe conferred the city's honorary citizenship on the Dalai Lama on Sunday. China said that the award was an interference in Chinese domestic political affairs.
Paris' city council voted last year to give the Dalai Lama honorary citizenship. Sunday's ceremony bestowed the award in person, and took place in Paris' City Hall.
Just last month China's Foreign Ministry warned that such an award could spark a renewal of angry anti-French sentiment in China. French / Chinese relations are already strained.
Of course, France is not the only country recognizing the Dalia Lama, and drawing Chinese criticism. The Polish capital Warsaw had also named the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen on May 28, after an unanimous vote by city councilors.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made it clear that has made clear that the award has nothing to do with the national government. Sarkozy's center-right UMP party is opposed by Delanoe's Socialist Party.
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