Dalai Clique at the Brandenberg Gate. The Cadre frowns.

Steinmeier is the designated midget to the Cadre bullying, while Merkel and the CDU get to stand up. Germany is confused, too. The Cadre is not China. The Dalai Clique is not China. Tibet is not China. Germany has moments when it may seek to apologize to the sun for absorbing all that ultra violet without paying for it or distributing it fairly to the disadvantaged and dishomed. Steinmeier is the new Germany? Nah. Dalai Clique at the Brandenberg Gate. Now there is irony

German rift over Dalai Lama visit
By Hugh Williamson in Berlin and James Blitz in London
Published: May 20 2008 01:48 | Last updated: May 20 2008 01:48
Splits on key foreign policy issues that have dogged Germany’s uneasy grand coalition government came once again to the fore on Monday – this time over the visit of the Dalai Lama.

Tibet’s spiritual leader on Monday used a rally of thousands of supporters at Berlin’s historic Brandenburg Gate to call for further dialogue with Beijing on “greater autonomy” for the troubled region.

Yet his visit was overshadowed by an ugly slanging match between the Christian Democrats of Angela Merkel, chancellor, and her coalition partner, the Social Democrats, led in cabinet by the foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Mr Steinmeier declined to meet the Dalai Lama during his five-day visit, which ended on Monday, arguing that such a meeting could undermine international efforts to promote sustained contact between China and Tibet. By contrast, several top CDU figures met the spiritual leader.

The CDU accused Mr Steinmeier of “cowardice” due to pressure from China, while the SPD said the CDU was “using the [Tibetan leader’s] visit for their own domestic political ends” of discrediting the foreign minister.

The differences reflect a deeper rift between Ms Merkel and Mr Steinmeier, and their parties, on issues ranging from relations with Russia and Turkey to Germany’s stance on international security concerns.

And the public splits, which analysts say could damage Germany’s efforts to present a unified position on the international stage, are likely to worsen as the country’s next national election, in autumn 2009, draws near.

Ms Merkel and Mr Steinmeier had already crossed swords last September over Tibet, when the chancellor met the Dalai Lama in Berlin on a previous visit. The meeting drew heavy criticism from Beijing, and prompted Mr Steinmeier indirectly to accuse the chancellor of playing at “shop window politics”.

Meanwhile, China has begun to express strong public concern about the Dalai Lama’s visit to the UK this week, saying it is “dismayed” that he will be meeting the prime minister Gordon Brown and opposition leaders. Senior Chinese officials have condemned the impending meetings as “political in nature” and also “unfortunate”.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008