Westerners "must know Tibet reality"

A joint statement issued on Wednesday by the two countries reaffirmed France's opposition to "Tibet independence". Sarkozy reiterated the stance after meeting President Hu Jintao at the London G20 summit on the same day.

Ladsous said the meeting showed "very clearly" that bilateral ties are "extremely important" for both sides.

Many Western people "do not know enough about the reality of Tibet", the French ambassador noted.

"They have a sort of idealistic view of high mountains, blue skies, people immersed in a sort of spiritual dreamland," Ladsous said.

"Nobody knows it (Tibet) was a slave society," Ladsous said, noting that people in the West are generally unaware of "the history of Tibet 60 years ago" under a theocratic rule with the Dalai Lama as its supreme leader.

To better explain the reality of Tibet to the West, Ladsous suggested that "more people visit there", referring to Beijing's recent decision to re-open the region to foreign tourists since this month after a one-month ban due to security considerations.