New | Obama meeting Dalai Lama in move sure to anger China
Meeting set for Wednesday morning in Washington
President Barack Obama will meet the Dalai Lama at the White House on Wednesday, in a move likely to enrage China, which sees the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader as a separatist.
Obama’s official schedule indicated that the pair, who have met before several times, would talk behind closed doors in the Map Room at 10:15 am (10:15 pm HK time)). The president usually speaks with dignitaries in the Oval Office.
They last met in the same room in February 2014, though they have had encounters since.
Beijing has routinely accused Washington of meddling in its domestic affairs after such encounters.
China says the Dalai Lama is seeking to split Tibet from the rest of China and calls him a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” But the spiritual leader has pressed more for Tibetan autonomy rather than outright independence.
Beijing vigorously lobbies against foreign leaders meeting the Dalai Lama “in any form.”