Posted on 10/16/2007 7:08:31 AM PDT by george76
President Bush and the Dalai Lama will meet today with a ceremony planned for tomorrow to award the spiritual leader the Congressional Gold Medal. China is warning that the events are bad for U.S.-Chinese ties.
The Dalai Lama is the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet's Buddhists. While the Dalai Lama is lauded in much of the world as a figure of moral authority, Beijing reviles the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and claims he seeks to destroy China's sovereignty by pushing for independence for Tibet, where the Dalai Lama is considered a god-king.
The Dalai Lama's special envoy, Lodi Gyari, said images of the U.S. president standing beside the Dalai Lama at the congressional ceremony will send a clear message that "people do care about Tibet. We have not been forgotten."
"I have no doubt this will give tremendous encouragement and hope to the Tibetan people," he told reporters ahead of the visit. It also "sends a powerful message to China that the Dalai Lama is not going to go away."
The Dalai Lama says he wants "real autonomy," not independence, for Tibet. But China demonizes the spiritual leader and believes the United States is honoring a separatist. The Dalai Lama's U.S. visit comes as China holds its important Communist Party congress.
Chinese diplomats have worked doggedly since the U.S. award was voted on last year to get the ceremony and meeting with Bush scrapped and to "correct this mistake," said Wang Baodong, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington.
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.ask.com ...
China condemns Dalai Lama US trip
Beijing has strongly urged US President George W Bush to cancel a planned meeting with the Dalai Lama, saying it would “seriously damage” relations.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7046445.stm
bump
Hello Dali!
In September, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met the Dalai Lama, incurring Beijing’s wrath.
The historic Berlin meeting prompted China to withdraw from a Germany-China symposium scheduled to be held in Munich and cancel an annual event due to be held in Beijing in December to discuss human rights.
They should tell China we’ll listen to their concerns once they sell us tires which don’t fly apart at 55 mph.
The Dalai Lama has also met Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and Australian Prime Minister John Howard this year, and is due to meet Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper later this month.
China was outraged when Canada granted the Dalai Lama honorary citizenship last year.
ChiComs not happy ... too bad
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“We strongly urge the United States to correct the mistakes, cancel the relevant arrangements, and stop interfering in China’s internal affairs by any means,” foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.
Liu said Bush’s meeting with the Tibetan spiritual leader, one day before the Dalai Lama receives a congressional Gold Medal, “seriously violates the fundamental rules of international relations, hurts the Chinese people’s feelings and grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs.”
He said the Dalai Lama was “purely an exiled politician who is involved in activities to split the motherland in the name of religion.”
END CHINA'S CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY! FREE TIBET! Click on the pic to help.
Pelosi is upset we are losing unity in the world.
(as she pushing the turkey resolution)
China will just donate more through HSU to hillary.
Perhaps they'd consider ending their financial support to the Clintons (and their Party).
Did somebody say Dalai Lama?
At least you got that going for you.
Tell China we will listen to their complaints when they stop funding the genocide in Darfur, leave Taiwan alone, get out of Tibet, and stop funneling money to the Clintons. Until then China, GO TO HELL!
Being an initiate in the Mahayana Buddhist vehicle I feel compelled tomake turnabout fair play...;)
I’d much rather piss off China than Turkey.
So Tibet is "Occupied Territory", to use the Israeli parlance. Why aren't we holding 4-party "Quartet" talks to establish an "independent Tibetian state"?
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