Beijing, September 14 – China vowed on Thursday to maintain its sovereignty over Tibet and accused the United States of undermining bilateral ties by honouring the exiled Dalai Lama with the highest civilian honour which sent a “very serious wrong signal” to the Tibetian independence forces.
“Despite several solemn representations from China, the US Congress has adopted the motion to grant the so-called Congressional Gold Medal,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters here while commenting on the US House of Representatives passing a Bill yesterday to award the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal.
“This has sent very serious wrong signal to the Tibet independence forces and very seriously interfered in China’s internal affairs and damaged Sino-US relations,” Qin said in a statement.
“We express our strong dissatisfaction and strong opposition to that,” he said.
“Tibet is an inalienable part of Chinese territory and widely recognised by the international community, including the US Government.
“The words and deeds of the Dalai Lama for several decades have shown that he is political exile who has been long engaged in splitting activities under the disguise of religion and never ever stopped his Tibet independence activities,” Qin said about the Tibetan religious leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
“China is opposed to any country or any person that interferes in China’s internal affairs by the question of the Dalai Lama.
“We have determined resolve to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the spokesman added.
