Senior US officials meet with Dalai Lama in New York

WASHINGTON — Senior officials from the US State Department and the White House met the Dalai Lama in New York on Aug 21 and "reaffirmed the US commitment to advancing the human rights of Tibetans", the State Department said.

The meeting with the 89-year-old exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism will likely irritate China, which considers him a dangerous separatist and opposes contact by officials of any country with him.

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, travelled to New York in June for medical treatment for his knees, his first visit to the United States since 2017.

A State Department statement said Uzra Zeya, the US Undersecretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights and special coordinator for Tibetan issues, travelled to New York for an audience with the Dalai Lama, joined by the White House director for human rights Kelly Razzouk.

It said that Zeya "conveyed, on behalf of President Joe Biden, best wishes for His Holiness' good health and reaffirmed the US commitment to advancing the human rights of Tibetans and supporting efforts to preserve their distinct historical, linguistic, cultural and religious heritage".

Zeya discussed US efforts to address human rights abuses in Tibet and support for a resumption of dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama, the statement said.

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said China was "gravely concerned" over the meeting and urged the US to have no contact with the Dalai Lama.

A group of US lawmakers had met the Dalai Lama in India before his US trip and said they would not allow China to influence the choice of his successor.

In July, China expressed strong opposition to a US law signed by Biden that presses Beijing to resolve a dispute over Tibet's demands for greater autonomy and vowed to "firmly defend" its interests.

The Dalai Lama has met officials, including US presidents, during previous visits to the US, but Biden has not met him since taking office in 2021.

In 2020, Biden criticised then President Donald Trump for being the only president in three decades who had not met or spoken with the Tibetan spiritual leader, calling it "disgraceful".

The Aug 21 meeting comes at a time when Biden has sought to stabilise rocky ties with China ahead of a presidential election on Nov 5, in which Vice-President Kamala Harris is pitted against Trump.

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