(TibetanReview.net, Oct19, 2016) – China on Oct 17 severely criticized Slovak President Andrej Kiska for having met, the day before, with the visiting exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, demanding atonement and vowing retaliations. President Kiska insisted on meeting the Dalai Lama over lunch in Bratislava on Sunday in spite of China’s strong opposition, China’s official Xinhua news agency Oct 17 cited Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying as saying.
“It goes against Slovakia’s commitment to adherence to the one-China policy. China firmly opposes this and will make due responses,” Hua was quoted as saying.
Hua has reiterated China’s usual accusation that the Dalai Lama had long engaged in anti-China separatist activities to split Tibet from China despite the fact that latter had for decades been seeking only autonomy for his homeland under Chinese rule. She has said China was firmly opposed to what she has called the Dalai Lama’s conducting of separatist activities in any country in any name and that Beijing was opposed to foreign officials’ contact with him in any form.
Making a grave issue of the meeting, Hua has said, “The Slovak president’s willful moves and insistence on the wrong stance have damaged China’s core interests and the political foundation of bilateral relations.”
She wanted Slovakia to “strictly abide by the one-China policy” and “take effective measures to eliminate the negative impact of this wrong move so that bilateral ties can get back on track.”
The Dalai Lama was on the third leg of his five-nation tour of Europe and was to visit the Czech capital Prague after Bratislava to take part in the Forum 2000 meet.