China on Friday urged India to denounce the Dalai Lama as a “separatist in religious guise”, expressing its displeasure over President Pranab Mukherjee meeting the Nobel Peace Prize-winning spiritual leader, Reuters reported. The Dalai Lama had attended the Laureates and Leaders for Children Summit at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, organised by Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s Children’s Foundation.
The Ministry of External Affairs, however, dismissed Beijing’s concerns, saying the Dalai Lama’s presence at the conference on children’s rights was non-political. MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup described the Dalai Lama as a respected spiritual leader and said India’s position on the matter had been consistent.
During a media briefing in Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said the country wanted New Delhi to acknowledge the “anti-China, separatist essence of the Dalai Lama clique and take steps to banish the negative impact of this incident”.
In October, China had said the Dalai Lama’s scheduled visit to Arunachal Pradesh in March 2017 will hamper Sino-Indian relations. India had approved the exiled Tibetan leader’s visit to the state on October 27.
The Dalai Lama had sought refuge in India in 1959 after a failed Tibetan uprising against the Chinese regime.
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