China tells Mongolia to bar Dalai Lama visit

Record ID: 78316

  • Title: China tells Mongolia to bar Dalai Lama visit
  • Date: 18th November 2016
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (NOVEMBER 18, 2016) (REUTERS) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN GENG SHUANG WALKING IN FOR REGULAR BRIEFING MEDIA SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN, GENG SHUANG, SAYING: "We strongly urge Mongolia to keep in mind the big picture of maintaining the healthy and stable bilateral relations and to keep their promises made on Tibet-related issues. Do not allow the Dalai Lama to visit. Do not support or facilitate the Dalai clique in any way." BRIEFING IN PROGRESS EXTERIOR OF CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY CHINESE NATIONAL FLAG FLYING
  • Embargoed: 3rd December 2016 09:58
  • Keywords: china mongolia daila lama tibet
  • Location: BEIJING, CHINA
  • City: BEIJING, CHINA
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA00158Z1E11
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: China told Mongolia to forbid the Dalai Lama's planned arrival there on Friday (November 18), suggesting the Tibetan spiritual leader's trip could harm Beijing's relations with its northern neighbour.
    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.
    "We strongly urge Mongolia to keep in mind the big picture of maintaining the healthy and stable bilateral relations and to keep their promises made on Tibet-related issues. Do not allow the Dalai Lama to visit. Do not support or facilitate the Dalai clique in any way," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular press briefing in Beijing.
    Mongolian media have said the Dalai Lama is expected to arrive Friday afternoon.
    After the Dalai Lama's visit to Mongolia in 2006, China cancelled flights between Beijing and Asia. Flights later resumed.
    Beijing frequently expresses its anger with countries that host the 81-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, 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 brought prosperity to a once backward region.
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