Dalai Lama Meets
President Obama In Washington
Exiled
Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, is meeting US
President Barack Obama in Washington on Thursday, despite
objections from China.
The meeting comes amid strain in US-Sino relations, bordering on
US arms sales to Taiwan, claims of Chinese cyber-spying and
trade deals.
The Dalai Lama will also meet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
at the State Department.
China: ‘will undermine ties’
China, which views the Dalai Lama as a separatist, has warned
the meeting will undermine relations.
The US is keeping formalities low-key and has downplayed China's
concerns.
On his arrival in Washington on Wednesday, the Dalai Lama headed
to a hotel for a ceremony to mark the Losar New Year with fellow
Tibetans.
The Dalai Lama's special envoy, Lodi Gayari, said that it was
‘important in itself that the meeting is happening’.
He said that the Dalai Lama would be asking the US president to
help find a solution in resolving the Tibet issue that would be
mutually beneficial to the Tibetan and Chinese people.
Sensitive issues
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs last week defended the
decision to receive the Dalai Lama, saying he was ‘an
internationally respected religious leader’.
He said the Sino-US relationship was mature enough to disagree
while finding common ground on international issues.
Mr. Obama avoided meeting the Dalai Lama in Washington last year
ahead of his own first state visit to Beijing.
Citing the ‘high sensitivity of Tibet-related issues’, China's
foreign ministry had urged the US to call off the visit to
‘avoid any more damage to Sino-US relations’.
Sources of tension
The meeting with Dalai Lama comes soon after China expressed
strong displeasure at the sale of $6.4bn worth of US weapons to
Taiwan.
Another source of tension is internet censorship, following
claims by the search giant Google that it had suffered a
‘sophisticated and targeted’ cyber attack from inside China.
This is not the first time that China has been angered by US
support for the Dalai Lama.
Beijing was infuriated in 2007 when President George W Bush both
received the Dalai Lama at the White House and attended a
ceremony at which he was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal -
the top US civilian honour.
China, which took over Tibet in 1950, considers the Dalai Lama a
separatist and tries to isolate the spiritual leader by asking
foreign leaders not to see him.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising
against Chinese rule and has since been living in India.
BBC/Yinka
