Obama under fire for not meeting Dalai Lama

WASHINGTON—US lawmakers and human rights activists on Friday sharply criticized President Barack Obama for not meeting the Dalai Lama, accusing him of bowing to Chinese pressure to shun the Tibetan leader.

Obama met the Dalai Lama last year but it appeared unlikely he would meet him on the monk’s latest visit to Washington. Obama is engrossed in talks on the US debt and the Dalai Lama closes his nearly two-week trip, in which he led thousands in a Buddhist ritual, on Saturday.

“It’s deeply disappointing that the president caved to Chinese pressure not to meet with the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is an esteemed world leader and a Nobel laureate,” said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“China undermines US interests at every turn. This sends another negative message that this administration will allow itself to be pushed around by rogue regimes,” said Ros-Lehtinen, a member of the rival Republican Party.

US lawmakers including House Speaker John Boehner, Ros-Lehtinen and top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi welcomed the Dalai Lama to the Capitol on July 7, voicing solidarity with the spiritual leader who has lived in exile since 1959.

Maria Otero, a senior State Department official who handles Tibet policy, also met the Dalai Lama and voiced support for “preservation of Tibet’s unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity.”

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could not find time to meet the Dalai Lama before leaving on a trip Thursday but that US officials will meet him in the future.

“He is a revered religious and cultural figure in the region,” Toner told reporters. “We have met with him in the past; I have no doubt we’ll meet him in the future.”

“Certainly we take human rights concerns very seriously in Tibet, and as part of our dialogue with China, we express those concerns,” Toner said.

But the Dalai Lama’s visit to Washington came amid a series of US interactions with China that the Obama administration believes are critical for future relations between the world’s two largest economies.

Admiral Mike Mullen visited China this week, the first trip by the top US military officer in four years. US policymakers are eager to step up defense dialogue, fearing miscalculations as China rapidly expands its military.

Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to travel next month to China for talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, who is widely expected to become president next year. Clinton will also hold talks in China on July 25.

China’s top military officer, General Chen Bingde, specifically criticized US meetings with the Dalai Lama during an appearance with Mullen, saying: “There are people in America who intentionally make trouble for the development of relations between the two nations.”

The Dalai Lama, who enjoys wide popularity in the United States, says he is peacefully seeking rights for Tibetans and accepts Chinese rule. Beijing insists that he is a “splittist” bent on dividing China.

Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch questioned why Obama would shy away from the Dalai Lama after Beijing last month defiantly rolled out the red carpet for Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted on genocide charges.

“It appears that on some of these tough issues, China gets to make the decision about what Washington does and not Washington,” Richardson said.

“We are at a point in history where Tibetans are facing enormous degrees of repression,” she said. “This is a tremendous missed opportunity and really undermines the people who are trying to better protect their rights.”

Obama did not meet the Dalai Lama during the monk’s 2009 visit, upsetting human rights campaigners. He received the Dalai Lama at the White House last year, albeit away from cameras in a private residence.

The United States has also stayed cautious on another point of friction with China — arms sales to Taiwan, which Beijing considers a territory. The administration has yet to move on Taiwan’s requests to buy F-16 fighter jets despite appeals for action from nearly half of the US Senate.