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‘This is historic’: Tibetan political leader meets new US special envoy
- Lobsang Sangay, head of the government-in-exile, says he met Robert Destro at the State Department
- Beijing called Destro’s appointment last week an attempt to destabilise Tibet
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The head of the Tibetan government-in-exile said he met the new US special coordinator on Tibet, whose appointment last week angered China, at the State Department, the first political head of the Tibetans in exile to be hosted there in 60 years.
US Secretary of State of Mike Pompeo last week appointed senior human rights official Robert Destro as special envoy for Tibetan issues. Beijing responded sharply, saying this was an attempt to destabilise Tibet and that it would not allow any interference there.
While US officials including most American presidents have met the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, at the White House, they have been careful about formally hosting the head of the government-in-exile as this would be seen as a major provocation by Beijing.
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Lobsang Sangay, the president of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), said this was the first time the head of the CTA had been received at the US State Department.
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“So this is historic, they are thereby acknowledging the Tibetans’ democratically elected leader and the CTA. It was a sound political gesture on the part of the US government,” he said by telephone from the United States.
US President Donald Trump has not yet met the Dalai Lama but has taken a tough posture towards China. Relations between Washington and Beijing are at their lowest point in decades over a range of issues, including trade, Taiwan, human rights, the South China Sea and the coronavirus.
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