Obama meets Dalai Lama, despite Chinese warnings

President Obama welcomed the Dalai Lama, the figurehead of a Tibetan movement demanding separation from China, to the White House this afternoon in a bid to display US concern over China’s human rights record.

The president “stressed that he encourages direct dialogue to resolve long-standing differences and that a dialogue that produces results would be positive for China and Tibetans”, according to a White House statement.

The statement read: “The Dalai Lama… hopes that dialogue between his representatives and the Chinese government will resume.

“The president reiterated his strong support for the preservation of Tibet’s unique religious, cultural, and linguistic traditions and the protection of human rights for Tibetans in the People’s Republic of China.”

‘Gross interference’

Chinese officials had condemned the meeting. “The United States’ arrangement for its leader to meet the Dalai would be a gross interference in China’s internal affairs and is a serious violation of the norms of international relations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said in a statement.

“It will seriously damage Sino-US relations. We urge the United States to take seriously China’s concerns, immediately cancel plans for the US leader to meet the Dalai, do not facilitate and provide a platform for Dalai’s anti-China separatist activities in the United States,” she added.

China accuses the Dalai Lama, a Nobel peace pize laureate, of harbouring an ambition to lead a violent uprising in a bid to establish an independent Tibet. But he insists he does not advocate violence and stressed at the meeting that he was not seeking independence.

‘Pay a price’

Today’s meeting was the third between President Obama and the Dalai Lama. Previous meetings have produced no major negative repercussions, despite Chinese opposition.

However, a senior Chinese official said foreign leaders who meet the Dalai Lama should “pay a price” for it, according to Reuters. The press agency reported that the official also vowed this week that China would ignore any foreign pressure on its human rights record.

Reuters also reported that diplomats in Beijing said Obama and the Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet at a nuclear security summit in the Netherlands next month.

Asked if China would cancel the meeting, Hua said: “If any country deliberately insists on harming China’s interests, in the end, it will also damage its own interests and will harm the bilateral relations between China and the relevant country.

“[If] the US president wishes to meet any person, it’s his own affair, but he cannot meet the Dalai. The Dalai is definitely not a pure religious figure. He is using the cloak of religion to engage in long-term activities to separate China, he is a political exile.”

‘Continuing tensions’

In what appeared to be a concession to Beijing, President Obama met the Dalai Lama in the White House Map Room, which has a lower standing than the Oval Office in diplomatic terms.

The United States recognises Tibet as part of China and does not support Tibetan independence, but supports the Dalai Lama’s approach for more autonomy, Caitlin Hayden, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council said before the meeting.

“We are concerned about continuing tensions and the deteriorating human rights situation in Tibetan areas of China,” Hayden added.

She said that the White House views the Dalai Lama as “an internationally respected religious and cultural leader” and noted Obama had met him twice before, in February 2010 and July 2011.

“We will continue to urge the Chinese government to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives, without preconditions, as a means to reduce tensions,” Hayden said in a statement.

Reuters reported that the meeting was held in private and appeared to last about an hour, although the Dalai Lama was not seen by White House photographers as he entered or exited the complex.