Asia-Pacific
Dalai Lama meeting to be held as scheduled
(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-18 09:15
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Barack Obama will meet with the Dalai Lama today as scheduled despite China's firm and repeated opposition, according to media in the United States.
The meeting will be in the White House Map Room instead of the Oval Office, while the US president is unlikely to make a public appearance with the Dalai Lama, reported Associated Press.
Despite the choice of location, however, any state leader who meets with the Dalai Lama in private or public risks damaging relations with China, said Pang Zhongying, an international relations expert with the Beijing-based Renmin University of China.
A joint appearance by Obama and the Dalai Lama before the media could worsen China-US ties and further complicate US efforts to secure Chinese help on major international issues, including nuclear programs in Iran and the Korean Peninsula.
Obama should focus more on important issues like trade and climate change instead of harming China relations by meeting the Dalai Lama, Fred Teng, a member of the National Committee on China-US Relations, said on Tuesday.
"Obama will be instigating a potentially destructive downward spiral in relations", Teng wrote in a recent article published on the Huffington Post, a US-based news website.
Tibet was part of China long before Hawaii became a US state, Teng wrote, pointing out that US Congress had passed the Apology Resolution, a law that apologized for the government's role in supporting the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
"However, Hawaii is still a solid part of US sovereignty. How would the US government react if China supported a leader of a Hawaiian sovereignty movement?" he wrote.
Ma Zhaoxu, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, last week urged the US to fully understand the sensitivity of issues related to Tibet, honor its commitment to recognizing Tibet as part of China and oppose "Tibet independence".
The US should not offer the Dalai Lama a venue to engage in anti-China, splitting activities, said Ma.
In Washington, Zhou Wenzhong, China's ambassador to the US, yesterday called on the US to seek dialogue, rather than confrontation, in dealing with relations with China.
"To strive to be a partner is better than to be an opponent," he said at a farewell reception before he leaves office.
Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said the US would shrug off opposition to Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama. He insisted the relationship between the US and China is "mature enough" to find common ground on issues of mutual interest despite disagreements on other topics.
China Daily, Xinhua and AP
