The Beijing News
April 2, 2009

Two diplomacy-related news dominated today's newspaper covers: President Hu Jintao met with US President Barack Obama at the London G20 summit, and France clarified its stance on Tibet's political status in a "Press Communiqué" released yesterday.

The Beijing News ran with the US-China meeting at its top headline and front-page photo, and put "Sino-French relations back on track" into a box down below.

Here's what France acknowledged, according to Xinhua, which put up the full transcript of the "Press Communiqué" on its website:

France fully recognizes the importance and sensitivity of the Tibet issue and reaffirms its adherence to the one-China policy and the position that Tibet is an integral part of the Chinese territory, in accordance with the decision made by General Charles de Gaulle, which has not changed and will remain unchanged. Based on this spirit and the principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs, France refuses to support any form of "Tibet independence".

Other front-page news includes a report about the Beijing government's review of the effectiveness of current traffic reduction measures. The city will decide whether to continue enforcing the policy.

Two days away from this year's Qingming festival, a traditional date for people to commemorate their deceased family members, the deserted city of Beichuan has seen increasing numbers of people flocking in to pay tribute to relatives who lost their lives in last year's earthquake.