China cries foul over Dalai Lama’s presence at Buddhist seminar

By Lobsang Tenchoe

DHARAMSALA, March 20: Beijing has issued a stern worded objection to India for inviting His Holiness the Dalai Lama to an international Buddhist Seminar in Bihar and warned India of serious repercussions in their bilateral ties.

China has resolutely opposed the Tibetan spiritual leader’s presence at the international Buddhist Seminar and condemned it as total disregard to Beijing’s strong opposition, reports The Economic Times.

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His Holiness the Dalai Lama lighting the ceremonial lamp with Mahesh Sharma, Union Minister of Culture at the inaugural session of international Buddhist conference in Rajgir, Bihar. Image -OHHDL

“Recently, India ignored China’s solemn representations and strong opposition and insisted on inviting the 14th Dalai Lama to attend an international Buddhist conference organized by the Indian government,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying was quoted as saying in the report.

The Tibetan Nobel laureate and Indian Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma inaugurated the three-day international Buddhist conference on ‘Relevance of Buddhism in the 21st Century’ held at Rajgir in eastern Bihar on Friday.

The Chinese spokeswomen further expressed Beijing’s disapproval by asking New Delhi to respect China’s core interest and avoid harm to China-India relations.

“China is strongly dissatisfied and resolutely opposed to this,” she said and added “we urge the India side to clearly recognize the anti-China separatist nature of the Dalai clique, abide by its promises on the Tibet issue, respect China’s core interests and avoid further disturbances and harm to China-India relations.”

The conference organized by the Union Ministry of Culture and the Nav Nalanda Mahavira University based in Nalanda, Bihar had in attendance, Buddhist leaders, monks and scholars from more than 30 countries.