Friday, February 19, 2010

U.S. envoy in Dalai Lama row

China summoned the U.S. ambassador on Friday to complain about President Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Beijing reviles as a separatist.

Obama held a low-key meeting with the Dalai Lama in the face of wider tensions over U.S. weapons sales to self-ruled Taiwan, China's currency practices, trade disputes and Internet censorship, risking further damage to strained Sino-U.S. ties.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said the meeting "violated the U.S. government's repeated acceptance that Tibet is a part of China and it does not support Tibetan independence".

Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Cui Tiankui later "lodged solemn representations" with U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1950. The Dalai Lama fled in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

The United States, like most of the world, recognises Beijing's "one China" policy which holds that Tibet and Taiwan are part of China. Only 23 countries recognise Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province.

Source : http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE61I02S20100219?type=marketsNews

No comments: