LJUBLJANA, July 15 (Hina) - The Slovene Foreign Minister said on Monday during a meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Slovenia Xu Jian that his country had not changed its official policy towards China and that a recent visit by the
Tibetan religious leader, the Dalai Lama, was of a private character and not influenced by Slovenia's official policy.
LJUBLJANA, July 15 (Hina) - The Slovene Foreign Minister said on
Monday during a meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Slovenia Xu Jian
that his country had not changed its official policy towards China
and that a recent visit by the Tibetan religious leader, the Dalai
Lama, was of a private character and not influenced by Slovenia's
official policy. #L#
"Slovenia supports the policy of a single China and has not changed
that stand, but reiterated it on several occasions before and after
the Dalai Lama's visit," Minister Dimitrij Rupel said at the
meeting, adding the Dalai Lama's visit was of a private, academic,
and religious nature.
The Slovene official policy had nothing to do with the visit that
prompted China to lodge an official protest, and could not
influence it, neither could it influence the comments which it
provoked, Rupel said. He added that his country respected China's
sovereignty and the principle of not interfering in other
countries' internal affairs and would continue working towards the
improvement of relations with China.
Protesting over the Dalai Lama's visit earlier this month, China
said he had used the visit to express separatist stands, and
expressed concern that the visit could affect its relations with
Slovenia. Although the visit of the Tibetan leader was not an
official one, but took place at the invitation of Ljubljana
University, the Dalai Lama met in private with the highest state
officials, including President Milan Kucan and Prime Minister
Janez Drnovsek.
(hina) rml