China Tells Obama Not to Meet With the Dalai Lama – Follow-Up

I apologize for not commenting on this sooner.

As I mentioned here, back in April the Chinese government reportedly told President Obama that he "should not meet the Dalai Lama … when he visits the United States in October." I noted the huge amounts of US Treasury debt that China has bought and said that [i]t’s a problem when you have to rely on somebody else for money. They get to have some say in what you do." I predicted that "the Obama administration will limit the Dalai Lama to some kind of unofficial visit, maybe a short chat with the President, but nothing formal."

Oops, I got that one wrong. President Obama isn’t going to meet with the Dalai Lama at all until after the President returns from his visit to China. The Washington Post says the U.S. is doing this because the U.S. doesn’t want to upset the Chinese, by meeting with the Dalai Lama, when the U.S. is looking for Chinese help in negotiations on nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea. I am not sure I understand this. China is going to do what China thinks is in its interest with respect to North Korea and Iran, just as they have been doing for years. China might complain, in public, if President Obama met with the Dalai Lama, but I find it hard to believe they would change their position on North Korea or Iran just because he did.

After all, in 1972 President Nixon resumed bombing North Vietnam and even mined Haiphong harbor just weeks before he was scheduled to travel to Moscow to meet Leonid Brezhnev. General Secretary Brezhnev didn’t like it, but the meetings, at which the SALT Treaty and ABM Treaty were signed, were more important, and they went on. In 1987 President Reagan went to Berlin and told Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this Wall". That didn’t stop General Secretary Gorbachev from going to Washington later that year to sign the INF Treaty with President Reagan.

The fact is that we can stand up for what’s right and still cooperate with countries such as China. You just have to have a President who understands this and is willing to do it.

Comments

[sue]

I think this shows a real lack of back bone on our President's part. He and Hilary Clinton are really showing a lack of human rights support. If the US government is only concerned about monetary issues, who is going to support the oppressed in the world? While a meeting with the Dali Lama would not change anything, a meeting like that has alot of symbolism and gives people who are oppressed hope to continue. We can be sure that the Chinese government is letting the Tibetan people know that President Obama isn't meeting with the Dali Lama.
It is great that the US Congress gave the Dali Lama the Tom Lantos Human Rights Award but the symbolism of not meeting with the US President, after he has met with US Presidents each year for so many years, is terrible. Maybe we should cover the beacon in New York Harbor?