Dharamsala – US President Barack Obama will go head with his plans to meet with the Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama despite Chinese opposition. The White House on Tuesday asked Beijing to address human rights concerns.
“The president told China leaders during his trip last year that he would meet with the Dalai Lama, and he intends to do so,” White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters Tuesday, days after US defied Beijing with a 6.4 billion dollar weapons package for Taiwan.
“The Dalai Lama is an internationally respected religious and cultural leader, and the president will meet with him in that capacity,” he said on Air Force One as Obama made a day trip to New Hampshire. He did not give a date for the meeting between the two but the Tibetan leader is scheduled to arrive in the United States later this month for public teachings in California and Florida.
“We’ll announce a date as it comes closer,” Burton said.
Obama came under criticism from right groups and Tibet supporters for not meeting the Dalai Lama when the latter visited Washington in October last year. Obama’s move was seen as an effort to avoid any tension with the Asian power ahead of his maiden visit to China a month later.
Ma Zhaoxu, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said his government “resolutely opposes the leader of the United States having contact with the Dalai under any pretext or in any form,” according to a statement on the ministry’s website (www.mfa.gov.cn).
“We urge the U.S. to fully grasp the high sensitivity of the Tibetan issues, to prudently and appropriately deal with related matters, and avoid bringing further damage to China-U.S. relations,” said Ma.
“If the US leader chooses to meet with the Dalai Lama at this time, it will certainly threaten trust and cooperation between China and the United States,” said Zhu Weiqun, executive vice minister of the United Work Front Department, at a press conference yesterday on the recently concluded ninth round of talks between Beijing and Dharamsala.
