BEIJING - CHINA'S state-run press launched a stinging attack on Friday on French President Nicolas Sarkozy nearly one week after he met the Dalai Lama, showing Beijing's anger over the encounter had not subsided.

Several state-run newspapers accused France - and particularly Mr Sarkozy - of having deeply hurt China by defying repeated warnings not to hold talks with Tibet's spiritual leader.

'The French president knowingly offended the people he now says he wants to befriend, without showing repentance,' the English-language China Daily said in an editorial.

The piece was published after France's ambassador to China held a press conference for domestic media on Thursday in a bid to ease tensions between the two nations, but the China Daily described the attempt as 'a failure'.

'His words revolved round that single message - the Chinese should not have over-reacted,' the newspaper said.

'Sounds like things had not gone wrong until the Chinese got fussy. Sarkozy was innocent and beyond reproach. China was being unreasonable. What is the logic here? Shall we apologise?'

The editorial said Chinese people 'hate duplicity'.

'For the French ambassador's and the president's information, the Chinese are forgiving but not on matters of sovereignty,' it said.

According to a transcript of the press conference, Herve Ladsous, the ambassador, asked whether the 'scale' of this 'political and media agitation' was 'completely justified', and if the Chinese reaction 'was not excessive'.

'I think that China would not tolerate personal attacks against its own President, Mr Hu Jintao, or against any of its leaders,' he said, according to the transcript.

China is against any foreign leaders meeting with the Dalai Lama, whom it accuses of seeking independence for Tibet - a claim the Nobel Peace Prize laureate denies, saying he wants meaningful autonomy for the Himalayan region.

The Chinese government had repeatedly warned Mr Sarkozy against meeting the Dalai Lama, and cancelled an EU-China summit due to take place on Dec 1 in protest at the planned talks, which eventually went ahead last Saturday.

Beijing also warned that trade ties between the two could be impacted, but so far, no reports of cancelled contracts have emerged.

But 10 years ago, a meeting between Mr Sarkozy's predecessor, Jacques Chirac, and the Dalai Lama in Paris to mark the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights did not attract such anger from China.

In an article on Friday on the 'wild ambition of the king of the world,' the Global Times - controlled by the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party - relayed criticisms of Mr Sarkozy printed in the foreign media.

'He is a poor human rights defender, and meanwhile, he roused the indignation of the Chinese people,' it said.

Internet users, meanwhile, widely vented their anger, calling Mr Sarkozy various insulting names - the least abusive being 'little clown'.

This onslaught of criticism demonstrated that China had refused to let slide Mr Sarkozy's perceived diplomatic faux-pas, despite assurances from the French foreign minister on Tuesday that his president had not intended to cause offence.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao on Thursday rejected France's effort to mend ties over the meeting, saying it had to do much more.

'We don't think the explanation is valid or is going to solve the current difficulties,' he told reporters at a regular briefing. -- AFP