MEXICO CITY – Chinese Ambassador Ren Jingyu criticized on Thursday an appearance by the Dalai Lama at Mexico’s Congress, saying the Tibetan religious leader had taken advantage of the legislative body to spread separatist sentiment.
The Dalai Lama’s visit this week, including Wednesday’s congressional visit, were not treated as an official visit by a head of state, but rather that of a religious leader.
Nonetheless, Ambassador Ren Jingyu angrily criticized the visit in a news conference, saying the Dalai Lama had used it ‘id he make a speech to a full session.
In fact, Congress was embarrassed by the fact that the Chinese were allowed to erect a photo exhibit in the lobby of Congress showing alleged atrocities committed under the regimes of previous Tibetan rulers.
The exhibit was withdrawn before the Dalai Lama’s visit.
President Vicente Fox did not meet with the Dalai Lama, but First Lady Marta Sahagu social relations with China, but has a fiercely isolationist history that makes it wary of taking a stand on international questions, such as whether Tibet should have more autonomy from China.
The Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, has lived in exile in Dharamsala, India, since a failed Tibetan uprising against the Chinese government in 1959. He now acknowledges that Tibet is part of China, but Beijing still considers him a revolutionary who works to spread notions about Tibetan independence.
