While the U.S.-China tiff at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen was grabbing headlines last week, the conference hosts quietly issued a diplomatic note stating that Denmark “attaches great importance to the view of the Chinese government” on Tibet-related issues, “takes seriously the Chinese opposition” to government meetings with the Dalai Lama, and “will handle such issues prudently.” The note also reaffirmed Chinese sovereignty over Tibet and Taiwan in language that sounded as if the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote it. It was quite a diplomatic coup for the Chinese regime, which had spent the better part of the week sabotaging the Copenhagen talks.
The Danes had previously been one of the strongest European supporters of Tibetan and Chinese human rights. In 1997, the Chinese government memorably attacked Denmark for its co-sponsorship of a resolution on China at the then-UN Human Rights Commission, warning that the resolution would “become a rock that smashes on the Danish government’s head.” But economic and political pressure has been building on successive Danish governments to take a more “pragmatic” approach. Following Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s May 2009 meeting with the Dalai Lama, the Chinese reportedly froze relations with the Danes, including on climate negotiations.
