Foreign leader's meeting with Dalai angers Chinese people
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Chinese people were angry about the meeting between certain foreign leaders and the Dalai Lama, said Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for the annual session of China's top legislature, Thursday.
"Some foreign politicians said the Dalai Lama is a religious figure, but in fact he is a political exile. A very close friend of mine who served an important post in the U.S. government said the Dalai Lama was a political monk," Li told a press conference a day before the opening of the National People's Congress (NPC) session.
"Why did the Dalai Lama propose a 'Greater Tibet' and keep the 'government-in-exile' with a so-called constitution while claiming he is not in support of 'Tibet independence'?" Li asked.
He said some politicians ignored the facts that Tibet is an inalienable part of China, and the region has scored great social and economic progress since the democratic reform in 1959.
"They lacked proper understanding about Tibet's history and present," he said.
Some foreign leaders intended to use Tibet-related issues to interfere into China's internal affairs, Li noted.
Citing a poem by the sixth Dalai Lama, Li said, "Lies always look flamboyant and smell fragrant, so we must be cautious."
"What is more important, we also need to observe what he (Dalai Lama) does," Li said.
In spite of China's strong opposition, U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met respectively with the Dalai Lama in Washington on Feb. 18.
