US must not use Dalai Lama against China

The White House announced on Feb 20 that US President Barack Obama will receive the 14th Dalai Lama in Washington next morning (US Eastern Time) for their third meeting since he assumed office in 2009.

The move is regrettable, and harmful for China-US relations. It is a flagrant breach of the US' pledge not to interfere in China's domestic affairs, and will damage the relationship the two countries have developed over the years.

In June 2013, less than three months into his presidency, President Xi Jinping traveled to California to meet with Obama at Sunnylands and usher in a new sunny period in cross-Pacific ties. Since then, guided by the shared vision of building a new type of major power relationship, China and the US have established closer cooperation in the political, economic, cultural and military fields.

Against such a favorable backdrop, the two global powers should have steered their cooperation toward productive interaction. But the US has chosen to do otherwise, and harm bilateral ties.

Some experts may say that Obama's unprovoked move is just an attempt to garner more votes in the upcoming US midterm elections, and argue that it is not intended to damage China-US relations. Such a line of thinking is both myopic and unrealistic. Even if the meeting with the Dalai Lama helps Obama gain some easy political points at home, it will cause unnecessary damage to the strategically significant China-US relations, which will translate into concrete loss for Washington.

Besides, Washington's idea of using the Dalai Lama to assume a moral high ground is fundamentally flawed. The Dalai Lama is essentially a political fugitive whose supporters instigate separatist activities, fueling them by committing self-immolation. Although the White House says Obama is hosting the Dalai Lama in the latter's capacity as a "respected religious and cultural leader", the meeting is apparently not one about religion or culture.

Announcing the meeting plan, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the US supports the Dalai Lama's "middle way" approach.

For nearly two decades, the "middle way" rhetoric has been the Dalai Lama's trump card in his ploy to rally international sympathy and support. Yet in practice, Tibetan secessionists have resorted to violence contradicting the very human rights Washington claims to defend, making the approach a camouflaged attempt at "Tibetan independence".

The 14th Dalai Lama advocates "true autonomy" in the proposed "Greater Tibet", a region that also covers Tibetan-inhabited areas of the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan. This is an obvious attempt to overthrow China's system of governing its regions inhabited by diverse ethnic groups.

Since such a secessionist plot still tops his agenda, the Dalai Lama has not renounced the "Tibetan Exile Constitution", an illegal document similar to the "Future Tibet Constitution" drafted in 1963, which proclaims the establishment of an "ethnically unified state led by the Dalai Lama".

No matter what Obama discusses with the Dalai Lama this time, it will have no bearing on China as far as the Tibet issue is concerned.

Obama is meeting with the Dalai Lama either because the Tibetan secessionist leader has used his "sweet talk" to trick the White House or because US politicians seek once again to put pressure on China using an unscrupulous old trick. But irrespective of the reason, the Dalai Lama's attempt to press for "Tibet independence" is doomed to fail and China-US relations are certain to suffer a setback.

The US and China are one of the most important bilateral relationships, and they need to cooperate more closely to deal with different global challenges.

For this to happen, US politicians have to abstain from using US-China ties as a handy tool to achieve short-term gains. Instead, they should help ensure that Washington works with Beijing to keep bilateral ties moving in the right direction. Respecting each other and prudently handling bilateral differences and sensitive issues should be a good start.

The authors are with Xinhua News Agency.