Bush to meet with Dalai Lama today
AP Photo: The Dalai Lama is greeted upon his arrival in Washington, Monday, Oct. 15, 2007. He is in Washington where he will receive the Congressional Gold Medal during a ceremony. 
Slideshow: Dalai Lama 
AFP/DDP/File - Sun Oct 14, 11:47 AM ET The Dalai Lama delivers a speech in September 2007 in Muenster, Germany. Washington was set Wednesday to bestow one of its top civilian honors on the Dalai Lama, a move that sparked anger from China and risked escalating already heightened tensions over the exiled leader. 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel(R) shows the way to the Dalai Lama after a meeting in the chancellery in Berlin in September 2007. China has cancelled a third consecutive Germany-China meeting following a summit between Merkel and the Dalai Lama in September, the German foreign ministry said Saturday. 
In this photo provided by the New York City Hall, Mayor Michael Bloomberg welcomes the Dalai Lama, right, into Gracie Mansion in New York Friday, Oct. 12, 2007.
AFP/DDP/File - Fri Oct 12, 2:43 PM ET The Dalai Lama delivers a speech during a lecture September 2007. China's attempts to isolate the Dalai Lama will fail, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader's special envoy said Friday after Beijing slammed a US plan to award him one of its top civilian honors. 
A man prays along with The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, as he speaks to members of the Tibetan Community Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007, at the Jacob K. Javitz Convention Center in New York. 
A group of Buddhist monks listen as the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, speaks to members of the Tibetan Community, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007 at the Jacob K. Javitz Convention Center in New York.
The Dalai Lama, left, Tibet's spiritual leader, greets Buddhist monks as he arrives to speak to members of the Tibetan Community Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007 at the Jacob K. Javitz Convention Center in New York.
Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, center, takes the stage with members from other religious faiths during a prayers for world peace interfaith dialogue in Ithaca, N.Y., Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007.
WASHINGTON - President Bush and the Dalai Lama will meet today with a ceremony planned for tomorrow to award the spiritual leader the Congressional Gold Medal. China is warning that the events are bad for U.S.-Chinese ties.
The Dalai Lama's special envoy, Lodi Gyari, said images of the U.S. president standing beside the Dalai Lama at the congressional ceremony will send a clear message that "people do care about Tibet. We have not been forgotten."
"I have no doubt this will give tremendous encouragement and hope to the Tibetan people," he told reporters ahead of the visit. It also "sends a powerful message to China that the Dalai Lama is not going to go away."
The Dalai Lama says he wants "real autonomy," not independence, for Tibet. But China demonizes the spiritual leader and believes the United States is honoring a separatist. The Dalai Lama's U.S. visit comes as China holds its important Communist Party congress.
Chinese diplomats have worked doggedly since the U.S. award was voted on last year to get the ceremony and meeting with Bush scrapped and to "correct this mistake," said Wang Baodong, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington.
"We are certainly very much displeasured and regret the fact that the U.S. side would totally ignore the repeated positions of the Chinese side and go ahead with its erroneous decision," Wang said in an interview. "Such moves on the U.S. side are not a good thing for the bilateral relationship."
A State Department official said Monday that China was protesting U.S. honors for the Dalai Lama by pulling out of an international strategy session on Iran sought by the United States and planned for Wednesday.
China objected to participating in the meeting on the day that the Buddhist leader was to receive the congressional honor, said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe another country's motives.
Since the American Revolution, Congress has commissioned gold medals for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. Recent winners have included civil rights icon Rosa Parks; former President Reagan and his wife, Nancy; cartoonist Charles M. Schulz; Gen. Henry Shelton, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Congress has long championed the Dalai Lama; lawmakers also regularly criticize Beijing for human rights abuses and a massive military buildup and claims that China ignores abuse by unsavory foreign regimes in its pursuit of energy deals.
The Bush administration also finds fault with China but is usually more measured as it seeks to manage a booming trade relationship and a desire to enlist Chinese cooperation on nuclear standoffs with North Korea and Iran.
Bush has met several times privately with the Dalai Lama, and, analysts say, his decision to attend the public congressional ceremony reflects his worry over the situation in Tibet.
Judith Shapiro, a China author and professor at American University, says the visit is "not going to profoundly affect ties in either direction. China needs the U.S., the U.S. needs China, and issues like Tibet are a bit of a sideshow to the basic relationship."
On Monday, dozens of people, some dressed in brightly colored traditional Tibetan robes and hats, greeted the Dalai Lama at a downtown Washington hotel. The Dalai Lama gave his blessing to people in the crowd and tasted some rice that had been prepared for him.
Bush supports the Dalai Lama's visit, although the White House tried to ameliorate Chinese anger before the Tibetan priest's arrival. Bush told Chinese President Hu Jintao at a recent meeting that he would be welcoming the spiritual leader to Washington.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino recently told reporters that Bush "understands that the Chinese have concerns about this."
"We would hope that the Chinese leader would get to know the Dalai Lama as the president sees him — as a spiritual leader and someone who wants peace," she said.
The Dalai Lama is immensely popular in Tibet, which China has ruled with a heavy hand since its communist-led forces invaded in 1951. He has been based in India since fleeing his Himalayan homeland in 1959 amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule. 26 minutes ago
Dalai Lama - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the Dalai Lama lineage. For information on the 14th and current Dalai Lama, see Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalai_Lama
Tenzin Gyatso - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Eventually in 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet and set up the government of Tibet. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a Dzogchen practitioner. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzin_Gyatso,_14th_Dalai_Lama
His Holiness The Dalai Lama From the official site of the Government Of Tibet In Exile. Provides a biography, bibliography, list of awards won, prayers, lectures and statements.
China is protesting U.S. honors for the Dalai Lama this week by pulling out of a planned international strategy session on Iran sought by the United States, a State Department official said Monday.
Tomorrow's headlines, today updated Fri, October 12, 2007
The following are the stories we expect to be making the headlines in the next seven days:
Tibetan protesters infiltrate Chinese embassy in New Delhi updated Wed, October 10, 2007
Some 30 Tibetan exiles protesting Chinese religious policies stormed the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi on Wednesday, with several breaching the front gate and chaining themselves to the flag pole inside, police and witnesses said.
Labels: H.H. Dalai Lama, learn about, news, Tibet
posted by LadyIrene @ 10/16/2007 08:17:00 AM
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