New Delhi: In a move set to rile China, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will be visiting Ladakh on 15 July, two days ahead of the 16 Corps Commander level talks between India and China to ease the over two-year-old standoff.
The Dalai Lama, who is in Jammu currently, in his first trip outside Dharamshala since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, spoke about the need for “meaningful autonomy” from China to preserve Tibetan Buddhist culture.
The time of his visit is significant as it comes amid the ongoing stand-off between the Indian and Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh. The 16th round of talks at the Corps Commander level between India and China is reportedly scheduled to take place on 17 July.
When news of the Dalai Lama’s planned two-day trip broke last week, China hit out at India for “using Tibet-related issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had wished the Dalai Lama on his birthday on 6 July.
“It is a consistent policy of the government of India to treat The Dalai Lama as an honoured guest in India and as a respected religious leader who enjoys a large following in India,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi responded to China.
While China has yet to officially comment on the resumption of the Dalai Lama’s travels, the history of the country’s criticism of both India and the spiritual leader and former head of state of Tibet is well-documented, in the decades since his exile from Tibet in 1959.
The Tibetan spiritual leader was quoted by ANI in Jammu as saying: Not Chinese people, but some Chinese hardliners consider me a separatist. Now, more & more Chinese are realising that the Dalai Lama not seeking independence but within China meaningful autonomy & to preserve Tibetan Buddhist culture.
‘I have faced protests before’
Not only did Chinese nationals protest along the Ladakh border against the Dalai Lama’s birthday celebrations in 2019, the Chinese government also issued an unequivocal condemnation of the Dalai Lama’s four-day visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh in April 2017.
China had also registered diplomatic protests with the United States in 2017 after a bipartisan US Congressional delegation, led by Nancy Pelosi, met the spiritual leader in May that year.
The Dalai Lama stated in 2011 that several Chinese government officials consider him as a “demon”. “This is quite routine. From their point of view it is also logical…They raise every objection. I have faced this before,” he said at the time.
A comment is awaited from the office of the Dalai Lama in McLeod Ganj, regarding the ongoing visit to Jammu and Ladakh.
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