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Obama is sending a wrong message

By Zhu Yuan (Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-02-12 10:43

【Editor’s note】The White House said on Thursday that President Barack Obama would meet the Dalai Lama on February 18, despite China's repeated warnings that such talks would hurt ties. Click for news

What would the US government feel and react if Chinese leaders meet someone who has been carrying out activities for the independence of one of its state, say Alaska?

Chinese Foreign Ministry:

China firmly opposes the Dalai Lama visiting the United States and US leaders' contacting with him

China urge the US side to fully understand the high sensitivity of Tibet-related issues, honor its commitment to recognizing Tibet as part of China and opposing 'Tibet independence.'

Deplorable for Obama to meet Dalai Lama

It is pathetic to see that US President Barack Obama is likely to succumb to domestic politics and go ahead with a plan to meet the Dalai Lama.

The fact that the meeting is still being planned, as confirmed by White House spokesman Bill Burton on Tuesday, bodes ill for Sino-US relations, already battered by the latest announcement of a $6.4 billion arms sale package to Taiwan.

Putting oneself in other people's shoes is what we Chinese always do when having the impulse to point our fingers at others or do something that will get on other people's nerves.

If Obama put himself in Chinese people's shoes, he would not meet Dalai Lama. He insisted on meeting Dalai Lama despite China's strong opposition because he gauges the question of Tibet and the Dalai Lama with a different yardstick.

With the Cold War mentality in his sub-conscientiousness, he can hardly shake off the obsession that China is a Communist state and is an enemy of the United States when it comes to ideology. As a result, he has turned a blind eye to the fact that Tibet has been part of China for hundreds of years and the history of Tibet as part of China is much longer than the history of the United States.

If Dalai Lama has any reason to claim sovereignty for Tibet as an independent country, the Indian tribes have far more reasons to drive most of the Americans out of the United States.

Obama has also turned a blind eye to the fact that peace and religion are a cover Dalai Lama uses for covert activities for his attempt to split Tibet from China. The Chinese government has said, for many times, that the door for negotiation is always open to Dalai Lama as long as he gives up his attempt to split Tibet from the motherland.

By meeting Dalai Lama, Obama is sending a message to those separatists that they have the support of the world's only superpower for their illegal activities.

By meeting this man who does not mean what he says, Obama is doing something detrimental to the Sino-US relations and has showed disrespect for the Chinese people.

By doing so, he is portraying himself as a man of double standards and of no principle in Chinese people's eyes.

By doing so, he is giving the impression that he told lies or at least did not speak from the bottom of his heart when promising to promote Sino-US relations.