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Risking China’s Anger, Obama Meets With Dalai Lama

WASHINGTON — President Obama met on Thursday with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, for a low-profile meeting at the White House that nonetheless raised the hackles of China.

After the meeting with Mr. Obama, the Dalai Lama told reporters that the two men talked about democracy, freedom and human values. In a statement the White House said that Mr. Obama had expressed support for the preservation of Tibet’s “unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity and the protection of human rights for Tibetans in the People’s Republic of China.” (Emphasis added)

The meeting — which the White House initially put off last year so as not to raise tensions with China before Mr. Obama’s trip to Beijing in November — is the latest twist in the more muscular position that the Obama administration has been adopting with China, after a year in which China has struck a firm stance with the United States on a number of issues.

Last month, the administration announced a $6 billion arms sales package to Taiwan, a move that infuriated Beijing because it considers Taiwan a renegade province. The meeting Thursday between Mr. Obama and Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, was not going over well with Chinese officials either. China regards the Dalai Lama as an advocate of Tibetan independence.

Chinese officials demanded—in vain—that the United States reverse its “wrong decision” for Mr. Obama to meet with the Dalai Lama. And while the White House has taken pains to avoid the appearance that this is a meeting between two heads of state—Thursday’s meeting, for instance, took place in the White House Map Room, and not the Oval Office—the administration also announced that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton would also meet with the Dalai Lama later at the State Department.

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White House officials had said they would keep the visit low-key, releasing a photo after the meeting between the Dalai Lama and Mr. Obama. But there was no joint public appearance.

American presidents, in deference to China, usually do not meet publicly with the Tibetan spiritual leader. President George W. Bush broke with that tradition back in 2007, though, when Mr. Bush attended a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda in which Congress bestowed upon the Dalai Lama its highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal.

The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since the Chinese military crushed an uprising in his homeland in 1959, and is revered as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists. He has been pressing to return to China to advocate for greater cultural and religious freedoms for his followers.

China experts said that Chinese President Hu Jintao might retaliate for Mr. Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama by canceling his planned visit to Washington in April.

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Full article.
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Mixed feelings here. While I am glad that Pres.Obama met with the Dalai Lama, I see that the President emphasized Tibet as part of China.  In Wikipedia, Tibet now shows as a China-ruled plateau region in Asia.  Tibet has a markedly different culture, and is remote with reference to China and even India; they have wanted to be independent for a very long time.  [This is pretty much the same way as Nepal, which has been recognized as a separate nation]

Besides, there is the big wall of the Himalayas between India, Tibet and China, India and Tibet are on the southern side of the Himalayas.  If Tibet belongs to China, now India would loose a natural border.  This already is having repercussions for another state in India called "Himachal Pradesh" (the snowy region state) that is the state nearest to Burma.

-- Edited by Sanders on Thursday 18th of February 2010 03:10:20 PM