Barack Obama cancels meeting with Dalai Lama 'to keep China happy'

cnredd · #1 (**permalink**) 10-06-2009, 03:31 AM

Just when you think this amatuer can't get worse...

Quote:

President Barack Obama has refused to meet the Dalai Lama in Washington this week in a move to curry favour with the Chinese.

The decision came after China stepped up a campaign urging nations to shun the Tibetan spiritual leader.

It means Mr Obama will become the first president not to welcome the Nobel peace prize winner to the White House since the Dalai Lama began visiting Washington in 1991.

The Buddhist monk arrived in Washington on Monday for a week of meetings with Congressional leaders, celebrity supporters and interest groups, but the president will not see him until after he has made his first visit to China next month.

Samdhong Rinpoche, the Tibetan prime minister-in-exile, has accused the United States and other Western nations of "appeasement" toward China as its economic weight grows.

"Today, economic interests are much greater than other interests," he said.

Mr Obama's decision dismayed human rights and Tibetan support groups, who said he had made an unnecessary concession to the Chinese, who regard the Dalai Lama as a "splittist", despite his calls for autonomy rather than independence for Tibet. The Chinese invaded in 1950, forcing the young leader to flee.

Sophie Richardson, Asia advocate for Human Rights Watch, said: "Presidents always meets the Dalai Lama and what happens? Absolutely nothing.

"This idea that if you are nice to the Chinese Communist Party up front you can cash in later is just wrong. If you lower the bar on human rights they will just move it lower and lower."

Appeaser-in-chief...

I was hoping never to say this again, but I must...

"Barack Obama will make friends of our enemies and enemies of our friends." - cnredd

cnredd · #2 (**permalink**) 10-06-2009, 03:37 AM

besides this foreign policy fumble, I'd like to point out something that happened last year...

This is Barack Obama on the Olympics last year in Beijing...apparently some OTHER Barack Obama...

Obama says he wouldn't attend Olympics opening ceremony

Quote:

Democrat Barack Obama took issue Monday with President Bush's decision to attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games, saying he would go to Beijing only if he saw progress between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama.

"In the absence of some sense of progress, in the absence of some sense from the Dalai Lama that there was progress, I would not have gone," the presidential candidate told reporters at a news conference.

Obama previously has called on the Republican president to boycott the ceremonies.

He called for a boycott in defense of someone THEN that...NOW...he doesn't even make time to see...

It's almost as if he plan his hypocrisy...

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