China opposes meeting between US charge d’affaires, Dalai Lama’s representative

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI (AA) – China strongly reacted Wednesday to a meeting of a representative of the Dalai Lama with US Charge d’Affaires Atul Keshap in New Delhi.

The US should honor its commitments and stop meddling in China's internal affairs under the pretext of Tibetan affairs, said a spokesman for the Chinese embassy.

”Strongly opposed to repeated provocative acts by the US. Tibetan affairs are purely China's internal affairs that allow no foreign interference.

“Any form of contact between the US side and the Dalai clique is a violation of the US commitment to acknowledging Tibet being part of China, to not supporting ‘Tibetan Independence,’ and to not supporting attempts to split China,” Chinese embassy spokesperson Wang Xiaojian said in a series of tweets.

Keshap tweeted that he “enjoyed meeting [Tuesday] with Ngodup Dongchung, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The US supports the religious freedom and the preservation of Tibetans' unique cultural and linguistic identities and respects the Dalai Lama’s vision for the equal rights of all people.”

Last month on his first visit to India, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met a group of civil society leaders where Dongchung was also present, which was seen as a strong message to China. Dongchung serves as a representative of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), also known as the Tibetan government in exile.