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China warns Obama against meeting Dalai Lama
by Ishita Sood - February 2, 2010 - comments
President Barack Obama at the Great Wall of China in November 2009.
Beijing, February 2 -- President Barack Obama has been warned by China against meeting Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, saying that it would “seriously undermine” Sino-US ties. The news comes just days before Dalai Lama starts his 10-day visit to U.S.
Obama is likely to meet the spiritual leader during the visit which starts Feb. 16.
“A meeting between Obama and the Dalai Lama would seriously undermine the political foundation of Sino-US relations,” said Zhu Weiqun, Chinese executive vice minister for relations with Foreign Countries.
Meeting with Lama could damage U.S. economic recovery
China further added on Tuesday that the meeting between the two leaders could also mean a serious damage to the “US economic recovery.”
“If the US leader chooses this time to meet the Dalai Lama, that would damage trust and co-operation between our two countries, and how would that help the United States surmount the current economic crisis?” added Zhu.
Despite all the news, Zhu gave no details of how China would hit back if President Obama met the monk.
He only said, “We will take corresponding measures to make the relevant countries realize their mistakes.”
China, who is already at loggerheads with U.S. due to its arm sale to Taiwan, has even suspended military exchanges with U.S.
China and Lama are “sharply divided”
Zhu said China and the representatives of the Dalai Lama were “sharply divided” since there was no progress on the Tibetan issue. According to Zhu, Dalai Lama already “plays a role of a trouble maker.”
It is also further reported that the latest comments from Zhu could even provoke tensions which could hamper ties at a time when Obama faces mid-term congressional elections in November.
“The Chinese will take a shortsighted stance toward the United States and the U.S. may take protectionist trade measures against China,” said Huang Jing, a professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
That would do “irreparable damage to the mindset of the Chinese and American people. Americans may say China’s peaceful rise is a fake and view China like they did the Soviet Union.”