China lashed out at US President George Bush's meeting with the
Dalai Lama, calling the meeting a "gross interference" in its
internal affairs.
"China is strongly resentful of this and resolutely opposes it,
and has made repeated solemn representations to the US side,"
Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said yesterday.
He again urged the US side to correct its wrongdoings and stop
interfering in China's internal affairs in any form.
Liu said such a meeting "seriously violated" the norms of
international relations and gravely hurt the feelings of the
Chinese people.
"It is a gross interference in China's internal affairs," Liu
added.
Liu's remarks were the latest response in a string of Chinese
protests about the decision to award the Dalai Lama the US
Congressional Gold Medal in a public ceremony earlier
yesterday.
Despite stern warnings from Beijing, Bush met with the Dalai
Lama in the White House on Tuesday
The meeting is the third since Bush took office in January 2001,
but the first public appearance with the Dalai Lama for a sitting
US president.
Liu reiterated that Tibet is an inalienable part of China,
saying China is firmly against any country and any people using
this issue to interfere with its internal affairs.
"The words and deeds of the Dalai Lama in past decades have
demonstrated that he is a political refugee engaged in secessionist
activities under the camouflage of religion," Liu said, adding that
any attempt to interfere in China's internal affairs using the
Dalai issue is "doomed to failure".
"Chinese people's resolve to safeguard the nation's sovereignty
and territorial integrity is firm and unshakeable."
(China Daily October 18, 2007)
