Summits are a dime a dozen these days. So it is tempting to shrug off the announcement on November 26th that China pulled out of an Eu-China summit, at less than a week's notice. But China's high-profile snub-aimed at President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who was to be the host on the European Union side-cannot be dismissed so easily.rnCancelling a meeting at such a high level is a rare breach of diplomatic manners. Mr Sarkozy has irked China by proposing to meet the Dalai Lama at a party in Poland for former winners of the Nobel peace prize on December 6th. Before then, he was due to play host to the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, in the French city of Lyon, in his capacity as holder of the rotating presidency of the eu. Some of the eu's regular summits with China are very dull. This one had important things to discuss, such as joint action on tackling the global financial crisis. An official eu statement regretted the summit's postponement, "particularly" at a time when the world situation calls for "very close co-operation".
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