New Delhi
A bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers met with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in India’s northern Himalayan state on Wednesday, despite China urging the US government to avoid contact with the Tibetan Buddhist leader.
A seven-member delegation led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul and including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with the 88-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner at his monastery in the town of Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh.
The Dalai Lama left Tibet in the late 1950s and settled in Dharamsala, where he remains the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people in exile.
China, which annexed Tibet in the 1950s, considers him a separatist.
In 1951, India welcomed the Dalai Lama and granted him asylum.
Ahead of Wednesday’s talks, China called on the United States to “fully recognize the anti-China separatist nature of the Dalai Lama group.”
“Everyone knows that the 14th Dalai Lama is not a ‘pure religious leader’ but a political refugee who engages in anti-China separatist activities under the guise of religion,” a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in India wrote to X.
“We urge the U.S. side to honor the commitments it made to China on the Tibet issue and stop sending wrong messages to the world.”
Xizang is the Chinese name for Tibet.
The statement added: “We urge the US side to abide by its commitment to recognize Tibet as part of China and not support ‘Tibet independence’. China will take resolute measures to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests.”
The delegation arrived in India’s Himalayan state on Tuesday, and McCaul said he was “very excited to meet with His Holiness tomorrow and speak to him about many things, including the bill that was just passed by Congress which basically says that the United States stands with the Tibetan people.”
The group’s visit comes at the same time that US President Joe Biden is expected to sign into law a bill called the “Promoting the Resolution of the Tibet-China Conflict Act,” which was passed by the US Congress this month and aims to promote dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama towards a “peaceful resolution of the long-standing dispute between Tibet and China.”
Foreign leaders meeting with the Dalai Lama have always angered China.
In 2015, China criticized the Tibetan spiritual leader’s visit to the United States.
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