barak Obama defies China, meets the Dalai Lama

President Barack Obama met with the Dalai Lama at the White House on Friday over the stern objection of China, which warned the meeting would “inflict grave damages” on the U.S. relationship with the Asian nation.

Mr. Obama greeted the Dalai Lama while the Dalai Lama and fellow Nobel laureate was in the U.S. on a speaking tour. The meeting was closed to photographers, and, unlike during some previous visits, the Dalai Lama departed the White House without speaking to reporters.

Ananth Krishnan writes from Beijing:

China on Friday said it had lodged “solemn representations” with the U.S. to raise its objections over President Obama deciding to host the Dalai Lama at the White House.

The Chinese government issued a strongly-worded statement saying it “urged” the U.S. to “immediately cancel” the meeting, which had been announced in Washington on Thursday evening.

Beijing described the meeting as an “unjustified interference in China’s domestic affairs” and warned it would cause “great damage” to relations between China and the U.S. “We urge the United States to take China’s concerns seriously and not to facilitate or offer occasion for the Dalai Lama to conduct anti-China secessionist moves,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

She said China was “greatly concerned” about the meeting, as it viewed the Tibetan issue as “a domestic affair of China.” She described the Dalai Lama as “a political figure in exile who is undertaking anti-China separatist activities in the name of religion.” The Dalai Lama, however, has repeatedly denied China’s allegations and maintained he is not seeking independence, but only genuine autonomy for Tibetans living in China.

China summons US diplomat over Obama-Dalai meeting

China on Saturday said it had summoned a top American diplomat to express its “strong indignation” over Friday’s meeting between President Barack Obama and exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Washington.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui on Friday night summoned the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy here, Daniel Kritenbrink, and lodged “solemn representations,” the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Mr. Zhang told him the meeting “seriously undermined” relations and “seriously violated the U.S. commitment of not supporting Tibet independence.” He said the Tibetan issue was “the domestic affair of China” and the U.S. “bears no right to interfere.”

China’s expectedly angry response echoed its similar opposition to Mr. Obama’s previous two meetings with the Dalai Lama, in 2010 and 2011. China has often exerted pressure on foreign leaders and warned them that bilateral ties, and even trade relations, could suffer if they hosted the Dalai Lama.

Mr. Obama first hosted the Dalai Lama in February 2010. On that occasion, the White House appeared to attempt to assuage China’s anger by playing down the meeting, which took place not in the official and symbolic Oval Office but in the Map room, and away from the glare of the cameras.

Mr. Obama's second meeting with the Dalai Lama came more than a year later, in July 2011, amid perceptions that the U.S., which was deepening engagement and seeking Chinese cooperation on a range of issues from trade to North Korea, was giving less weight to Tibet-related issues than in the past.

Friday’s meeting also took place in the Map room, with the White House aagain appearing to tone down the affair. The Dalai Lama was not seen entering or leaving the White House by official photographers.

Mr. Obama reiterated that the U.S. did not support Tibetan independence, but affirmed his support for Tibet’s religious, cultural and linguistic identity and for ensuring Tibetans’ human rights. He pointed out that the Dalai Lama himself had sought genuine autonomy for Tibetans, and not independence, in his “middle way” approach.

China, however, repeated its accusations that the Dalai Lama was a “splittist.”

The Foreign Ministry in a statement described the exiled spiritual leader as “a political exile who has long engaged in anti-China secessionist activities in the name of religion.”

A commentary by the official Xinhua news agency criticised the Dalai Lama’s “middle way” approach as “nothing but smoke and mirrors, camouflage and deceit.”