Obama Meets with Dalai Lama, China Discontent

On Friday, February 21, 2013, President Obama met with the Dalai Lama in Washington D.C.  The two leaders met twice before, in 2010 and 2011 and China expressed statements of discontent about the meeting.  The Chinese government is concerned about the United States spreading their influence in Chinese controlled Tibet and also opposes Tibetan autonomy which the Dalai Lama is trying to achieve.  According to the article, "China accused Obama of letting the Dalai Lama use the White House as a podium to promote anti-Chinese activities" (online).  Therefore, the meeting between Obama and Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, stirred up strong feelings among the Chinese government last week.  In a statement by Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry, "said before the meeting that it was 'a gross interference in China's domestic politics' and 'a severe violation of the principles of international relations.  It will inflict grave damages upon the China-U.S. relationship" (online).  The United States expressed statements of neutrality, suggesting that "The United States supports the Dalai Lama's 'middle way' approach of neither assimilation nor independence for Tibetans in China" (online) in a statement by Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the White House's national security council.  China has denounced meetings between the President and the Dalai Lama before, and the Unites States has "recognized Tibet as part of China and did not support Tibetan independence" (online), probably as an effort to ease tensions between America and China.  At least 120 individuals had set themselves on fire in protest of Chinese rule in Tibet in the past five years.  As a response, the Chinese government has increased security in Tibet and has started to use intricate surveillance programs to monitor Tibetans.  The Dalai Lama, though calling the self-immolations an "ineffectual" form of protest has also made his belief clear in that it is "understandable" and will not castigate those forms of protest.
This is important in terms of U.S. foreign policy because the United States and China have such a heavy reciprocal relationship, especially economically speaking.  It is understandable that China would be a bit alarmed at a meeting with the President of the United States and one of Tibet's most influential leaders, especially after being announced on extremely short notice, since China wants to keep control of Tibet.  I do not think that this will be a long lasting issue between the America and China, again, because of the important relationship the two countries share.  However, it will be interesting to see how U.S. foreign policy will compare with China and Tibet after the President's meeting with the Dalai Lama.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/21/china-us-barack-obama-dalai-lama

- Jack Mikolajczyk