Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. File
| Photo Credit: AP

“China firmly opposes any country allowing the Dalai Lama to make visits under any pretext,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday (August 22, 2024.)

Senior officials from the U.S. State Department and the White House met with the Dalai Lama in New York on Wednesday (August 21, 2024) and “reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to advancing the human rights of Tibetans,” the State Department said.

The meeting with the 89-year-old exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism was expected to roil China, which considers him a dangerous separatist and opposes contact with him by officials of any country.

“China has made solemn protests with the U.S.”, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning at a regular press briefing. “We don’t allow the Dalai Lama to engage in political separatist activities in the U.S.”

Last month, China expressed strong opposition to a U.S. law signed by President Joe Biden that presses Beijing to resolve a dispute over Tibet’s demands for greater autonomy, and vowed to “firmly defend” its interests.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the “appointment of a so-called special coordinator of Tibetan issues constitutes interference in internal affairs.”

New York:

Senior officials from the U.S. State Department and the White House met with the Dalai Lama in New York on Wednesday and “reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to advancing the human rights of Tibetans,” the State Department said.

The meeting with the 89-year-old exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism will likely irritate China, which considers him a dangerous separatist and opposes contact by officials of any country with him.

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, traveled to New York in June for medical treatment on his knees, his first visit to the United States since 2017.

A State Department statement said Uzra Zeya, the U.S. undersecretary of state for human rights and special coordinator for Tibetan issues, traveled to New York for an audience with the Dalai Lama, joined by the White House director for human rights, Kelly Razzouk.

It said Zeya “conveyed, on behalf of President Biden, best wishes for His Holiness’s good health and reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to advancing the human rights of Tibetans and supporting efforts to preserve their distinct historical, linguistic, cultural, and religious heritage.”

Zeya discussed U.S. efforts to address human rights abuses in Tibet and support for a resumption of dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama, the statement said.

A group of U.S. lawmakers met the Dalai Lama in India before his U.S. trip and said they would not allow China to influence the choice of his successor.

Last month, China expressed strong opposition to a U.S. law signed by President Joe Biden that presses Beijing to resolve a dispute over Tibet’s demands for greater autonomy and vowed to “firmly defend” its interests.

The Dalai Lama has met U.S. officials, including U.S. presidents, during previous visits to the U.S., but Biden has not met him since taking office in 2021.

In 2020, Biden criticized then President Donald Trump for being the only president in three decades who had not met or spoken with the Tibetan spiritual leader, calling it “disgraceful.”

Wednesday’s meeting comes at a time when Biden has sought to stabilize rocky ties with China ahead of a presidential election on Nov. 5, in which Vice President Kamala Harris is pitted against Trump.

China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the meeting.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Dalai Lama said on Saturday he is recovering from a knee surgery and feels “physically fit”, brushing aside rumours of ill health on his 89th birthday.

“Recently I had surgery on my knee, which has given me some problem. However, I am recovering and have no problem at all now,” the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism said in a video message from the United States, where he is recuperating.

“There may be people trying to confuse you about my health, saying that the Dalai Lama has gone to a hospital and is undergoing treatments, and so on, making my condition sound grave. You don’t need to trust such misinformation,” he said.

A charismatic figure who popularised Buddhism internationally, the Dalai Lama won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for keeping alive the Tibetan cause in exile. He fled to India in 1959, nine years after China sent troops into the Himalayan region in 1950, saying it was liberating Tibetan “serfs”.

As the spiritual leader ages and battles health problems, the appointment of his successor has become a looming issue for Tibetans struggling for more autonomy in China or outright independence. Tibetan Buddhists believe that learned monastics are reincarnated after death as newborns.

The Dalai Lama has said he will clarify questions about succession – including whether and where he would be reincarnated – around his 90th birthday.

“I am nearly 90 now but I don’t feel unhealthy, except for the slight discomfort in my legs. I would like to thank all my fellow Tibetans in and outside Tibet for your prayers on my birthday,” he said, adding that some issues are part of ageing.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of Buddhists and well-wishers around the world are to gather to celebrate and pray for the long life of a leader who for them represents the strongest hope of an eventual return to Tibet.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

A delegation of US lawmakers met the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Wednesday in Himachal Pradesh’s Dharamshala.

The meeting annoyed Beijing, which urged the United States on Tuesday to “fully recognise the anti-China and separatist nature of the Dalai clique” and refrain from “any form of contact with it”.

Why Is The Delegation In India?

The bipartisan seven-member group of American lawmakers is visiting India to meet the Nobel peace laureate, the Dalai Lama.

The United States has long supported the rights of the Tibetan people to practice their religion and culture, and has accused China of human rights violations in the remote Himalayan region that borders India.

A bipartisan bill passed this month by the US House of Representatives aims to push Beijing to hold talks with Tibetan leaders, stalled since 2010, to secure a negotiated agreement on Tibet and spur China to tackle Tibetan aspirations on historical, cultural, religious and linguistic identity.

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Among the delegation are the two authors of the act, titled ‘Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act’ or the Resolve Tibet Act, along with Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the US House of Representatives.

The delegation also met officials of Tibet’s government in exile, which functions from India.

Who Is The Dalai Lama?

Born in 1935 as Lhamo Thondup, the Dalai Lama was identified as the reincarnation of his predecessor at the age of two, and enthroned in 1940 as the 14th Dalai Lama in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

Beijing invaded Tibet in 1950, and the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against its rule, since when he has lived in exile in the Himalayan town of Dharamshala.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

Why Is The Visit Controversial?

It has riled China at a time when Beijing and Washington are struggling to improve ties, and India’s relations with China have also been strained since a military standoff on their Himalayan frontier killed 24 soldiers in 2020.

US President Joe Biden is expected to sign the Resolve Tibet Act soon, in a bid to find a resolution for the dispute, although Washington considers the Tibetan Autonomous Region to be a part of China.

“This visit should highlight the bipartisan support in the US Congress for Tibet to have a say in their own future,” the chief of the US delegation, and one author of the bill, Michael McCaul, said ahead of his departure from Washington on Friday.

What Are China’s Objections?

China accuses the Dalai Lama of being a “splittist” or a separatist, but he says he wants genuine autonomy for his remote Himalayan homeland.

While Beijing has always objected to his meetings with foreign leaders, this has not prevented the Dalai Lama from meeting them, including U.S. presidents, although Biden has not met him yet.

However, the most contentious issue is the task of appointing his successor.

While Beijing has said it has the right to approve a successor, in a move set to strengthen its control over Tibet, the Dalai Lama says only the Tibetan people can make that call, and his successor could be found in India.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Dharamshala:

The Dalai Lama on Saturday congratulated jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi on winning the Nobel Peace Prize and said the award was also in recognition of the vital role women play in people’s lives. Mohammadi, 51, was awarded the prize on Friday in recognition of her tireless campaigning for women’s rights and democracy and against the death penalty.

In a letter to her on Saturday, the Tibetan spiritual leader said, “Today, the values of democracy, transparency, respect for human rights, and equality are increasingly recognised on every side as universal values, which can only benefit us all.”

“I have met and held discussions with previous Nobel laureates, including your sometime colleague, Mrs. Shirin Ebadi. I admire their efforts to overcome discrimination against women and improve society in a peaceful way. I believe that the award of this Nobel Peace Prize is also in recognition of the vital role women play in the lives of us all from the very day we are born,” the Dalai Lama wrote.

He said there is a growing desire for change in the world, a change that will see conflicts resolved through dialogue and non-violence.

“The foundation of such change will be kindness, compassion and human responsibility. I believe that this goal can be achieved through education based on a deeper appreciation of the oneness of humanity. Because we are so interconnected, this is a question of the well-being of us all,” he wrote.