China dissatisfied over Invitation to Dalai Lama at Buddhist Seminar at Nalanda, Bihar
New Delhi
China lashed out India for allowing Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama to attend the international Buddhist seminar at Nalanda in Bihar. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ms Hua Chunying saidthat saying it was dissatisfied move which would disrupt bilateral ties.
Hua said that the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader in exile, also shared the stage with Indian government officials and delivered a speech. “China is strongly dissatisfied and resolutely opposed to this.”
On Friday, the Dalai Lama inaugurated the three-day international Buddhist conference on the theme “The Relevance of Buddhism in the 21st Century” at Nalanda, 100 km from state capital Patna. Buddhists scholars and monks from more than 30 countries attended the seminar. Minister of state for culture and tourism Mahesh Sharma shared the stage with the Dalai Lama.
“We urge the Indian side to clearly see the anti-China splittist nature of the Dalai group and honour its commitment on Tibet and related questions, respect China’s core concerns and avoid China-India relations from being further disrupted and undermined,” Hua said.
This was the second time this month that the foreign ministry issued a strong statement against the Dalai Lama, and what Beijing perceives as India attempting to tweak its commitment to the Tibet and “One-China” policy. Earlier this month, the foreign ministry had said Beijing was “gravely concerned” about the Dalai Lama’s planned visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as south Tibet.
Last year, Beijing had registered its strong displeasure when the Dalai Lama met Pranab Mukherjee at an official function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
In his speech on Friday’s event, the Dalai Lama remembered the time 60 years ago when then premier Zhou Enlai sent him to Nalanda with the relics of ancient Chinese traveller Xuan Zang to offer to prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
The Dalai Lama, who escaped from Tibet to India in 1959, also thanked New Delhi for being a “wonderful host which has offered him guest status for such a long time”.
