Chinese students at US university denounce invitation to Dalai Lama

A California university’s decision to have the Dalai Lama speak at this year’s commencement ceremony has sparked uproar among Chinese students who see the choice as an affront.

The University of California, San Diego said it extended the invitation to the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader in a bid to promote his message of “global responsibility and service to humanity”.

However, the San Diego chapter of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association and other groups have objected, denouncing the 81-year-old Nobel laureate as a separatist leader intent on dividing China.

“The Dalai Lama is not simply a religious person, but also a political exile who has long been engaged in splitting the motherland and destroying national unity,” the student association said in a statement.

In an opinion piece for the school newspaper, The Guardian, Ruixuan Wang said the main reason Chinese students were upset “is that our university shows little consideration about cultural respect, as he is a politically sensitive person in China”.

He added that many parents would be flying from China to attend their children’s graduations in June and the Dalai Lama’s presence “will ruin our joy”.