(TibetanReview.net, Nov25, 2016) – The Dalai Lama’s wish for a meeting with the next President of the USA, Mr Donald Trump, may not be realized, opined China’s official Global Times newspaper Nov 23, citing Chinese experts. It cited the experts as saying Trump was not only too busy working on his economic recovery policies and international issues to have the time for the exile Tibetan leader but also that the President-elect was not the kind of US elitist who would want a meeting with him.
The report quoted Li Haidong, professor at the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, as saying, “The Dalai Lama may win the support of some elites in the US. However, Trump, who has been labeled an ‘anti-elite’ and ‘anti-establishment’ president-elect, is unlikely to meet the Dalai Lama.”
Besides, Li has added, any “meeting will not be good to promote Trump’s new policies”.
On the last of his six-day visit to Mongolia on Nov 23, which went ahead in the face of strenuous objections from Beijing, the Dalai Lama had said he had “no worries” about Donald Trump’s election as US president, that he would like to go and see the new president. He expected that despite what he had said during his election campaign, which drew strong criticisms from human rights groups, the businessman would align his policies with global realities.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang had responded to the Dalai Lama’s wish for a meeting with Mr Trump by alleging that the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet traveled the globe to seek audiences with foreign leaders to try to damage relations between them and China.