Bush will Attend Dalai Lama Award Ceremony; Risks Angering China

President Bush will attend a congressional ceremony Wednesday to present the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal. Bush risks angering China who regards the spiritual leader as a separatist.

The White House has confirmed the President and First Lady Laura Bush will attend the presentation next week on Capitol Hill. Past Congressional Gold Medal recipients include Nelson Mandela, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa.

Beijing expressed its discontent with honoring the Dalai Lama.

"China resolutely opposes the U.S. Congress awarding the Dalai its so-called Congressional Gold Medal, and firmly opposes any country or any person using the Dalai issue to interfere in China's internal affairs," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

Austin Ramzy of Time's China Blog with more on the subject's heightening tention:

It seems like the official sensitivity in Beijing to the Dalai Lama, who is always a fairly touchy subject here, has been heightened in recent days. There was a piece yesterday in the China Daily about the Dalai Lama linking him to the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, and the People's Daily overseas edition ran an op-ed accusing him of betraying Buddhism. Reuters also reports on an internal Communist Party document that questions the loyalty of ethnic Tibetans who are members of the Communist Party.

Others are sort of commending the President; ATLmalcontent blog says:

Bush is the first American president to appear in public with the Dalai Lama, so he deserves credit, even if he's just trying to curry favor with Richard Gere.

Another lighthearted statement, this time from Jack Pate's blog:

This is great, but if they [Bush and the Dalai Lama] shake hands or touch, I fear some sort of rip in the cosmic space-time continuum.

The Dalai Lama has been exiled in India ever since fleeing his Himalayan homeland in 1959 during a failed uprising against China.

Beijing claims the Dalai Lama is set on establishing an independent Tibet and considers him to be a political exile. He denies the claim, calling instead for "real autonomy" for Tibet as well as respect for Tibetan religion and culture.

-Dippold

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