INDIA: Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama set to leave for US to meet Obama

Record ID: 1374190

  • Title: INDIA: Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama set to leave for US to meet Obama
  • Date: 17th February 2010
  • Summary: DHARAMSALA, HIMACHAL PRADESH, INDIA (FEBRUARY 16, 2010) (ANI) VEHICLES ARRIVING TIBETAN SPIRITUAL LEADER, THE DALAI LAMA ALIGHTING FROM THE VEHICLE DALAI LAMA LEAVING ESCORTED BY OFFICIALS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAMDHONG RINPOCHE, TIBETAN PRIME MINISTER IN-EXILE, SAYING: "His Holiness has left for Washington on the invitation of President Barack Obama and it was decided long time before when his high level delegation was sent here last year and since then the President was looking forward to this meeting and on the 18th they will meet." OFFICIALS AT THE AIRPORT (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAMDHONG RINPOCHE, TIBETAN PRIME MINISTER IN-EXILE, SAYING: "It is not very unusual. So it was a long pre-planned meeting and we hope all will be well." RINPOCHE LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 3rd March 2010 23:56
  • Keywords:
  • Location: India
  • Country: India
  • Topics: International Relations,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVADTX6YWT1637A3ODC1CN51I348
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama left India's northern Dharamsala town, seat of the Tibetan government in-exile, on Tuesday (February 16) for United States to meet President Barack Obama, despite opposition from China.
    The White House announced last week that President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama would meet on Thursday (February 18), despite Beijing's warning that such talks could hurt already strained China-U.S. relations.
    China has become increasingly vocal in opposing meetings between foreign leaders and the Dalai Lama, who Beijing deems a dangerous separatist.
    Dalai Lama left Kangra airport on Tuesday for the national capital New Delhi. He will depart for Washington on Wednesday (February 17).
    "His Holiness has left for Washington on the invitation of President Barack Obama and it was decided long time before when his high level delegation was sent here last year and since then the President was looking forward to this meeting and on the 18th they will meet," Samdhong Rinpoche, Tibetan Prime Minister in-exile told reporters after Lama's departure.
    Rinpoche said that Tibetans are hoping for a good outcome out of the meeting.
    "It is not very unusual. So it was a long pre-planned meeting and we hope all will be well," Rinpoche added.
    Obama's meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader is likely to set off a new round of sniping from Beijing, which has seen tensions with Washington rise over issues ranging from trade to currency to planned U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
    Obama told China's leaders during a visit to Beijing in November of his intention to meet the Dalai Lama, and the administration had made clear in recent days that it would shrug off Chinese opposition and go ahead with the talks.
    Previous U.S. presidents, including Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, have met the Dalai Lama, drawing angry words from Beijing but no substantive reprisals.
    Tensions between Beijing and Washington have risen in recent months on a range of issues from their trade imbalance to the U.S. plan to sell $6.4 billion of weapons to Taiwan.
    The Dalai Lama has said he wants a high level of genuine autonomy for his homeland, which he fled in 1959. China says his demands amount to calling for outright independence.
    Beijing blames the spiritual leader for violent unrest that broke out across Tibetan capital of Lhasa and other Tibetan areas in March 2008 ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
    China recently hosted talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama but they achieved little.
    Washington has said it accepts Tibet is a part of China but wants Beijing to sit down with the Dalai Lama to address differences over the region's future.
    The conflict over the Dalai Lama meeting is one in a number of issues stoking tensions between the world's largest and third largest economies in recent months.
  • Copyright Holder: ANI (India)
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