China blames Dalai Lama connection to Germany instead of Tibet

https://www.reuters.com/articl....e/us-china-germany-d
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/....2007/11/merkel-meeti
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/po....litik/treffen-mit-da
https://www.news18.com/news/in....dia/nazi-dalai-lama-
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/c....hina/2007-11/09/cont
1. Wide of Jiang Yu entering news conference
2. Cutaway of camera
3. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin): Jiang Yu, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson:
"We have expressed our solemn position to the German side. I think the relevant countries should have a clear recognition of what kind of person the Dalai Lama is. The words and actions of Dalai Lama in the past decades have shown that he is not simply a religious figure, but a political exile who has engaged in separatist activities and activities that undermine the unity of the nationalities under the disguise of religion. Wherever he goes, in whatever name, what he does, is not simply a religious activity, but represents a separatist force. We are firmly against the Dalai Lama's splittist activities, in whatever name and in wherever place. We also oppose any country or individual who uses the Dalai issue as a means to meddle in China's internal
affairs
4. Cutaway of media
5. Wide at the news conference
STORYLINE
Beijing has called off a planned meeting between Chinese and German officials that was planned for Sunday, the day the Dalai Lama is to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, an official said.
China cancelled the meeting in Munich, which was part of a bilateral dialogue on legal issues and was to include German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries, citing "technical reasons," according to the German government.
The cancellation was received on Friday, and the Dalai Lama's planned meeting with Merkel at the chancellery was not mentioned.
German officials have characterised the meeting as a private encounter with a religious leader, but Beijing has criticised the exiled Tibetan spiritual
leader's visit.
On Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the visit was intended to further what Beijing alleges is an agenda to seek independence
for the Himalayan region.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Beijing had expressed "our solemn position to Germany," over the visit, claiming the Dalai Lama was
using religion to further his political agenda.
"We are against his splittist activities. We also oppose any country or individual who uses the Dalai issue as a means to meddle in China's internal
affairs," Jiang said at a regularly scheduled news conference.
China routinely criticises visits abroad by the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet for India in 1959 during a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
Winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, he remains popular among Tibetans and widely respected abroad, despite efforts to undermine him by Chinese authorities.
China claims Tibet has been its territory for centuries, but many Tibetans say they were effectively independent for most of that period.
In an expression of its pique over the visit, China earlier summoned Germany's ambassador to China to the Foreign Ministry, a typical diplomatic
way of expressing displeasure.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was scheduled to meet the Dalai Lama at her office on Sunday, the first time the Dalai Lama has been received at the German chancellery, although he met with Germany's former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer several times during his time in office.
Merkel, who took power in 2005, has raised human rights publicly during both of her trips to China as chancellor, in contrast to her predecessor,
Gerhard Schroeder, who opponents accused of soft-pedalling the issue in favour of commercial interests.


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