- Title: Dalai Lama says will visit Trump in move bound to anger China
- Date: 23rd November 2016
- Summary: ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA (NOVEMBER 21, 2016) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** DALAI LAMA SHAKING HANDS WITH MONGOLIAN ACADEMIC MONKS READING BOOKS DALAI LAMA SPEAKING MONKS SEATED BEIJING, CHINA (NOVEMBER 23, 2016) (REUTERS) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN GENG SHUANG WALKING IN FOR REGULAR BRIEFING MEDIA SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN, GENG SHUANG, SAYING: "The Fourteenth Dalai Lama is a political exile who, under the pretext of religion, has been engaging in anti-China separatist activities overseas for a long time. He poses as a political leader. But he doesn't stay in the temple concentrating on practising his religion, but instead travels around the world, seeking to meet foreign leaders, attempting to destroy relations between China and these countries. We hope the international community can further see through the anti-China, separatist nature of the Dalai Lama, and appropriately and discreetly handle Tibet-related issues." BRIEFING IN PROGRESS EXTERIOR OF CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY CHINESE NATIONAL FLAG FLYING
- Embargoed: 8th December 2016 10:07
- Keywords: Dalai Lama Donald Trump President Elect Mongolia China response diplomacy
- Location: ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA/BEIJING, CHINA
- City: ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA/BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: Various
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00259O00UF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said on Wednesday (November 23) that he would visit U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, a meeting that would infuriate Beijing which views the Nobel Peace Prize-winning monk as a dangerous separatist.
Speaking during a visit to Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar and asked about the U.S. election, the Dalai Lama said he had always considered the United States a "leading nation of the free world".
"Sometimes I feel during election the candidate have more freedom when they express. Once they (are) elected, having their responsibility, then they have to tell you their vision, their works according to reality. So I already, I think next year, there are some problems to go to United States, so I will go to see the new president," he told reporters, brushing off some of the U.S. election campaign rhetoric.
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader arrived in Mongolia on Friday (November 18) for a visit to meet Mongolian Buddhist leaders, according to his website. He left Mongolia on Wednesday morning.
President Barack Obama met the Dalai Lama at the White House in June despite a warning by China that it would damage diplomatic relations. It was Obama's fourth White House meeting with the Dalai Lama in the past eight years.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the Dalai Lama travelled the globe seeking audiences with foreign leaders to try to damage relations between them and China.
"The Fourteenth Dalai Lama is a political exile who, under the pretext of religion, has been engaging in anti-China separatist activities overseas for a long time. He poses as a political leader. But he doesn't stay in the temple concentrating on practising his religion, but instead travels around the world, seeking to meet foreign leaders, attempting to destroy relations between China and these countries. We hope the international community can further see through the anti-China, separatist nature of the Dalai Lama, and appropriately and discreetly handle Tibet-related issues," Geng told a daily news briefing.
China regards the Dalai Lama as a separatist, though he says he merely seeks genuine autonomy for his Himalayan homeland Tibet, which Communist Chinese troops "peacefully liberated" in 1950.
China has been angered by Mongolia's decision to allow him to visit, though Mongolia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement to the Montsame news agency that the government had nothing to do with the trip, which they said was arranged by Mongolian Buddhists.
After the Dalai Lama's visit to Mongolia in 2006, China briefly cancelled flights between Beijing and Ulaanbaatar.
Beijing frequently expresses its anger with countries that host the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 following a failed uprising against the Chinese.
Rights groups and exiles accuse China of trampling on the religious and cultural rights of the Tibetan people, charges strongly denied by Beijing, which says its rule has ended serfdom and brought prosperity to a once backward region. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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