Obama meets quietly with Dalai Lama
Over objections from Beijing, President Obama met with the Dalai Lama at the White House Wednesday morning.
This was the fourth official meeting between the two Nobel Peace Prize laureates. Each meeting, dating back to 2010, has been closed to the media and hosted in the Map Room, rather than the Oval Office, which is usually reserved for foreign heads of state.
The president was originally scheduled to campaign with presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday in Wisconsin, but the event was postponed after the mass shooting in U.S. history at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, early Sunday morning, which killed 49 people.
The White House was then able to schedule a visit from the Tibetan spiritual leader. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that the president has "warm personal feelings" for the Dalai Lama. Earnest characterized the visit as a personal visit.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang denounced Wednesday's meeting saying, "If the United States plans this meeting, it will send the wrong signal to Tibet independence and separatist forces and harm China-U.S. mutual trust and cooperation."
China considers the Dalai Lama a separatist and blames him for the self-immolations by Tibetans in their dispute over independence from China. Tibet is recognized by the U.S. as part of China.
"The 14th Dalai Lama is not simply a religious figure but a political figure in exile who has been conducting secessionist activities internationally under the pretext of religion," Lu added. "We need to emphasize that the Tibetan issue is China's internal affairs and other countries do not have any right to interfere with this."
Beijing's opposition to the meetings between the two leaders is not new. Every previous meeting at the White House has been condemned by the Chinese government, which says it poses a threat to Sino-American relations.
In Lu's media statement, he added that he wanted the U.S. to "stick by its promise of recognizing Tibet as a part of China, and not support Tibetan independence or any separatist activities."
The White House said Wednesday that the policy hasn't changed.
"Tibet, per U.S. policy, is considered part of the People's Republic of China, and the United States has not articulated our support for Tibetan independence," Earnest said. "Both the Dalai Lama and President Obama value the importance of a constructive and productive relationship between the United States and China. All of those were policy positions of the United States before the meeting occurred. Our policy hasn't changed after the meeting."
In February last year, President Obama acknowledged the Dalai Lama at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., calling the leader a "good friend" and "a powerful example of what it means to practice compassion and who inspires us to speak up for the freedom and dignity of all human beings."
The meeting with the Dalai Lama comes just a day before President Obama's somber trip to Orlando to "pay respects to victims' families, and to stand in solidarity with the community as they embark on their discovery."