Obama - Dalai Lama meeting likely to increase US - China friction: H. Clinton

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Phayul
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Dharamsala, January 12 - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday acknowledged that more “friction is likely (between US and China) when President Obama meets with the Dalai Lama”, according to a Washington Post report. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader and winner of 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, is expected to meet with the US president Barack Obama soon.

While reiterating that United States recognizes China's sovereignty over Tibet, Clinton said U.S. officials differ with China over the region. "We support the legitimate desire for cultural, religious respect and autonomy," she said.

Obama last year became the first US president in 18 years to not meet the Tibetan leader who was on a visit to Washington in October 2009. Obama’s decision to not meet the Tibetan leader before his meeting with Chinese president Hu Jintao and Premiere Wen Jiabao in November was perceived as a ‘bid to improve ties with China’. However, Obama sent his senior advisor Valerie Jarrett here in September last year to discuss, according to a statement by the Dalai Lama’s office, “the best way the United States could assist in the resolution for the Tibetan issue, particularly in the light of the first visit by President Obama to China in November.”

Tibet supporters and activists criticized Obama administration for shunning the Dalai Lama and ignoring human rights concerns but the Dalai Lama said he understood Obama’s position saying that he did not “want to cause any inconvenience to anybody.”

Clinton, who was speaking on the first day of her three-nation Asia-Pacific tour denied any friction between the United States and China, saying she thinks the countries have a "mature" enough relationship to be able to handle differences of opinion, the Washington Post reported.

"Everyone's aware that China is a rising power of the 21st century," she said. "But people want to see the United States fully engaged in Asia, so that as China rises the United States is there as a force for peace."

China has reacted strongly against a U.S. decision last week to sell anti-missile batteries and missiles worth almost $1 billion to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as its territory and has said the United States is meddling in its internal affairs.

Clinton will visit Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia in nine days.