Obama Decided to Meet Dalai Lama Despite Chinese Warnings

NY Times - U.S. President Barack Obama still plans to meet the Dalai Lama, the White House said on Tuesday, despite China’s warning that such a meeting would hurt ties already strained by U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.

Digging in on two points of discord, China vowed to impose unspecified sanctions against U.S. companies selling arms to Taiwan and said any meeting between Obama and the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader would hurt bilateral ties.

Barack Obama

The White House shrugged off Beijing’s warning.

“The president told China’s leaders during his trip last year that he would meet with the Dalai Lama and he intends to do so,” White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters travelling with Obama to New Hampshire.

“We expect that our relationship with China is mature enough where we can work on areas of mutual concern such as climate, the global economy and non-proliferation and discuss frankly and candidly those areas where we disagree.”

China has become increasingly vocal in opposing meetings between foreign leaders and the Dalai Lama, who Beijing deems a dangerous separatist. A meeting between the Tibetan leader and Obama would raise tensions between the world’s biggest and third-biggest economies.

Ties between the United States and China have also soured over trade and currency quarrels, cyber security and control of the Internet, and Beijing’s jailing of dissidents.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Washington wanted to “work through” disputes in various bilateral meetings the United States has with China.

“You have two of the most powerful nations on earth and our interests coincide in many areas and our interests collide occasionally in a handful of those,” he told reporters.

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