Future of millions of Tibetans around the world will depend on who takes his place as the spiritual leader, says Nitin Pai
A day after attacking the Dalai Lama for backing Japan in its maritime territorial dispute, China on Tuesday lashed out at Tokyo for its 'laissez-faire' attitude on the "separatist activities" of the Tibetan spiritual leader along with Japanese right-wing forces to harm bilateral strategic ties.
China on Tuesday took strong exception to British Prime Minister David Cameron's meeting with the Dalai Lama and lodged diplomatic protests accusing the United Kingdom of interfering in its internal affairs by playing up the Tibet issue.
China launched a fresh broadside against Dalai Lama, accusing him of perpetuating feudalism and warned that any attempts to separate Tibet from the country are doomed to fail, on Saturday.
The four Indians from Punjab, Haryana, were on Thursday seen off at the Benina Airport by the embassy's local representative Tabassum Mansoor.
China on Tuesday unleashed a fresh attack on Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and needled India over his forthcoming visit to Arunachal Pradesh, saying it was a 'separatist' action and an anti-China move. "We have expressed our grave concerns. We believe that this once again exposes the nature of the Dalai Lama as anti-China," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in Beijing. "We firmly oppose the visits of the Dalai Lama to the border regions," he said.
Experts differ on whether the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh could escalate tensions between India and China and even lead to war.
China is "firmly opposed" to a planned visit to Arunachal Pradesh by the Dalai Lama, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in Beijing.
"China's position on Tibet-related issues is very clear. We are firmly opposed to any foreign official meeting with the Dalai Lama," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told media-persons at a biweekly briefing."We are opposed to the Dalai Lama's engagement in separatist activities in any country," she said.
Hundreds of medical experts were at their wit's end when Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama asked them point blank, "Do you give your patients true happiness?"
Sidestepping Chinese opposition, United States President Barack Obama will meet the Dalai Lama at the White House on Wednesday, a move likely to infuriate China which considers the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader as a separatist.
Top Congressional leaders on Wednesday met Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, reaffirming their support to the Tibetan cause.
Dismissing the Dalai Lama's charge that it was training woman agents to kill him, China on Monday said his allegation was "groundless" and "not worth refuting" while its state-run media accused him of playing an "insidious trick".
The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values, the fourth such center in the world, seeks to promote the Dalai Lama's vision of a better world by sponsoring interdisciplinary programs and deliberations on ethics. Attending the two-day event, among others, will be former Indian President A P J Kalam.
"The President told China's leaders during his trip last year that he would meet with the Dalai Lama, and he intends to do so. The Dalai Lama is an internationally respected religious and cultural leader, and the President will meet him in that capacity," Bill Burton, the White House Deputy Press Secretary said.
"We are firmly against the Dalai Lama engaging in activities aimed at splitting the motherland through overseas visits. We are firmly opposed to foreign governments or any political figures supporting and encouraging such activities," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei told a media briefing in Beijing on Thursday.
The Dalai Lama intends to travel to Arunachal in the middle of November, which the Tibetan government-in-exile says has nothing to do with politics.
Thousands of people, including Tibetans, assembled in Washington to celebrate the 76th birthday of Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who also inaugurated the 11-day Kalachkra ceremony for World Peace
The United States on Monday urged all people concerned to protect the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in view of allegations of a Chinese plot to assassinate him.
Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said that the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit to the border state is completely religious and no political motive should be ascribed to it.
As suicide bids continued unabated in Tibetan-inhabited areas seeking the return of the Dalai Lama, China, for the first time in recent months, has indicated its willingness to reopen the stalled talks with him if he "truly gives up Tibetan independence." "The central government has also made clear its willingness for talks if the Dalai Lama truly gives up Tibetan independence. The door remains open to him," the state-run China Daily said on Monday.
Referring to allegations that it was "silly for China" not to have names for various counties and inventing them for six places in Arunachal Pradesh, an op-ed article in the state-run Global Times said "these comments are absurd".
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Monday inaugurated a district hospital in Tawang and donated Rs 20 lakh for its building on the second day of his visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Sunday led a special prayer for world peace at the historic Jama Masjid in Delhi and said it is regrettable that Muslims are being targeted in the name of terrorism. The Dalai Lama, who was in Delhi to participate in an international Anti-Terrorism conference, was accompanied by several foreign dignitaries and people of different faiths.
The Dalai Lama, 76, has said that he would ask the Tibetan parliament in exile to make the necessary constitutional changes to relieve him of his "formal authority" as head of the Tibetan community outside.
United States President Barack Obama will on Saturday meet the Dalai Lama, defying Chinese pressure to shun the Tibetan spiritual leader. "This meeting underscores the President's strong support for the preservation of Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity and the protection of human rights for Tibetans," a White House statement said. Obama last met the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace laureate, in February 2010.
Special envoys Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen said they have told Chinese officials during the two-day talks in Beijing that continuing the parleys on the Tibet issue will serve no purpose until the Communist country takes "tangible" measures. The Dalai Lama was "disappointed" on the outcome of the latest Beijing talks, the duo said in a statement in Dharamsala.
The 81-year-old Dalai Lama inaugurated an international seminar on Buddhism on March 17 in Rajgir in Bihar's Nalanda district, about 100 km from the capital Patna.
The Dalai Lama is not only an institution, but also a 'private' human being. Tibetans will certainly ask him to continue to guide their destiny for the years to come, believes Claude Arpi.
Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar met Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama at his residence in Dharamshala during his six-day visit to Himachal Pradesh. The leaders discussed various issues over an hour-long meeting.
The Dalai Lama gestures as he leaves Leelavati Hospital in Mumbai on Monday. The Dalai Lama was discharged from the hospital four days after he was admitted with abdominal discomfort.
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama was admitted on Thursday to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai for treatment of abdominal discomfort.
Bush said America had a 'strong commitment to support the preservation of Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity'.
Tibetan spiritual guru the Dalai Lama has accepted the invitation of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu to visit the state and inaugurate a hospital In Tawang.
The invitation to the "Dalai Lama for activity in the disputed areas between China and India will only damage peace stability of the border areas as well as the bilateral relationship between China and India", Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang.
"What kind of a person the Dalai Lama is? He is explicitly, in his words and deeds, a political exile engaged in destabilising activities. His aim is to undermine China's relations with other nations and its national unity," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu told a bi-weekly press briefing in Beijing.
The People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party of China, said the key word of 'various definitions put forward by the Dalai Lama clique, including the so-called 'middle-way' and 'high autonomy', is nothing but 'Tibetan independence'.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is scheduled to meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in McLeodganj, the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile, in Dharmasala in Himachal Pradesh on Saturday."A meeting between the Dalai Lama and Rao has been scheduled at his official palace post lunch, where other high-ranking officials of his administration would also be present," an official of the external affairs ministry said.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama arrived in Srinagar on Thursday on a six-day private visit to Kashmir during which he is scheduled to meet Tibetan refugees living in the valley.
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