Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, met the Dalai Lama in Gdansk, Poland, on December 6.
Deputy Foreign Minister He Yafei has summoned the French ambassador to China, Herve Ladsous, "and lodged a strong protest," Xinhua said.
"The French side must take concrete measures to remedy damage to the China-French bilateral relations and Sino-EU relations," state-run CCTV quoted him as saying.
In late November, China postponed indefinitely a summit with the EU to protest against a planned meeting between the French president and Tibet's spiritual leader, who China has branded a separatist.
In response, France said that the president would not change his plans, and would go ahead with the meeting with the Dalai Lama in Poland, scheduled for December 6.
Beijing has accused Tibet's spiritual leader of orchestrating the unrest in Tibet in March, which left 19 people dead and 623 injured, according to official Chinese reports.
China's crackdown on the protests was severely criticized in the West. Sarkozy was among the first world leaders to call for a boycott of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games in August over China's response to the riots. He than however backed down and attended, saying that it would be wrong to "humiliate" China.
