A bipartisan US Congressional delegation met with the Dalai Lama on Wednesday at his residence in Dharamsala, India, angering China which considers the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism a dangerous separatist.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers that this is a “outside interference” and that issues relating to Tibet are “China’s internal affairs”.
The meeting comes as Washington and Beijing recently resumed talks after several years of turmoil that began after the imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods under the Trump administration. Relations have further deteriorated following the COVID-19 pandemic and rising military tensions in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.
The high-level delegation, led by Republican Representative Michael McCaul and including the former Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosiarrived Tuesday in the hillside town where the Nobel Peace Prize winner has made his headquarters since fleeing Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. There they met representatives of the Tibetan government in exile, which wants greater autonomy for Tibet.
Beijing does not recognize the administration in exile and has not spoken with representatives of the Dalai Lama since 2010.
After meeting with the spiritual leader on Wednesday, the seven U.S. lawmakers addressed hundreds of people who had gathered at a monastery next door to the Dalai Lama’s residence. 88 years oldwaving American and Tibetan flags.