China upset at America hosting the Dalai Lama
Putin's visit to Iran isn't the only diplomatic move causing an uproar. The Dalai Lama has a meeting with Bush today, marking the first time a sitting U.S. president will speak to the Dalai Lama in public. Bush will be awarding the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award. Needless to say - China isn't happy.
Chinese officials in Tibet expressed fury at the announcement of the Congressional award.
Tibet's Communist Party Secretary of Tibet, Zhang Qingli, lambasted the exiled spiritual leader for trying to "split the motherland".
"We are furious," he said. "If the Dalai Lama can receive such an award, there must be no justice or good people in the world." BBC
The absurd view of Zhang Qingli is standard in the Chinese government. The rest of the world views the Dalai Lama as a spiritual leader promoting peace - the Chinese government sees him as a tyrant whose sole purpose is to split the nation of China.
Tibet has been under Beijing's rule since 1951, when troops from the newly formed Communist government moved in and ended a period of self-rule that had flourished while the rest of China was in turmoil. The Dalai Lama, a temporal as well as spiritual leader, led resistance to the imposition of Chinese authority, with assistance from the Central Intelligence Agency, until he was forced to flee over the Himalayas to India in 1959. WP
I can't help but remember the Final Jeopardy! question that asked for one of the two landlocked countries in the Himalayas, and the man who responded with the largest and most famous: Tibet. He was marked wrong after Jeopardy! explained that Tibet was not -technically - a country. What they wanted was either Bhutan or Nepal. In that moment Jeopardy! was taking a safe political position, and many people were outraged over the acceptance of the Chinese occupation. But as Jeopardy! pointed out - it was just sticking with U.S. policy.
Aside from Jeopardy! and the occasional documentary, the Tibetan question has slipped out the limelight. However, with the recent uprisings in Myanmar against the Junta there is refreshed interest in the Tibetan struggle. America isn't the first major nation to honor the Dalai Lama, but it is still an important moment where the US chooses peace over power - for once.Congressional, Tibet, Dalai, Lama, China, Gold, Medal
The world knows about Tibet, now that the Tibetan Refugees w/ their gov't in Exile have been spreading their peaceful struggle for freedom in their own land.
The Chinese living in China are not all but "many" have been brain washed by their Cruel Chinese Communist Party regarding Tibets History stating that China freed Tibetans but how can that be true since about 1/4 of the population is out side of their home land, the generations that are not born w/o having stepped into their home land.
And not to mention, the continuing fleeing of Tibetans from Tibet into Nepal and then into India since Chinese invasion (1959). Tibetans are still fleeing, does this mean China Liberated them? if so why are they still fleeing. (Look up shooting in Nangpala: where Chinese border troups open fire on fleeing nuns and children, ending up killing atleast 1 young nun and capturing about half of the children who triied to flee to India to pursue their culture and education.
FYI: I suppose you didn't catch the Final Jeopardy! question a few weeks back concerning the two world capitals between which the longest rail line on earth presently runs. The answer was Bejing, China and Lhasa, Tibet. Surprised? So were the contestants, none of whom answered correctly -- probably because (1) they didn't know the capital of Tibet anyway, and (2) they didn't think Tibet was considered a state by much of anyone, much less the USA or Jeopardy!.
p.s. yes, I knew the answer, because of recent New Yorker article about the rails opening. :oP