China angry over Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama

In a widely expected response, China has vehemently criticized the US over the meeting between President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement that the meeting has severely hurt the sentiments of the Chinese people and violated 'US pledges to respect Chinese sovereignty.' The US recognizes Beijing's 'one China' policy,' which claims Tibet and Taiwan as part of the country.

China's strong reaction comes despite the fact that the meeting between President Obama and the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader was largely ceremonial and closed door. Instead of the Oval Office, where the US president meets heads of state, the 45 minute meeting was held in the lesser-known Map Room.

Tibetan issues

The White House later released a picture of President Obama and the Dalai Lama and issued a statement which said that the President supports the preservation of Tibet's religious, cultural and linguistic identity and the protection of human rights for Tibetans in China.

The Dalai Lama, for his part, was satisfied with the talks. "I feel a great honor seeing the president of the greatest democratic country," he told reporters afterwards. "Since my childhood I always admired America."

Kelsang Gyaltsen, one of the Dalai's Lama's special envoys, says the aim of the meeting was not to anger China. "The meeting between the American president and the Dalai Lama is not against China," he says."It is about the concern, the situation of the Tibetan people, and the situation inside Tibet, human rights issues. These meetings have taken place for past 20 years and they have not harmed the relations between the US and China."

Strained Sino-US ties

Relations between Washington and Beijing have soured in recent months. Washington says it will get tougher on trade issues with China especially on the issue of its currency, which it says Beijing is keeping artificially low to give advantages to its exporters.

China, on the other hand, is upset with the US over its arms sales to Taiwan.

Amid these disputes, China recently also unveiled that it had sold nearly four percent of its US government bonds in December. This means it is no longer the largest overseas holder of US treasury bonds. Some experts see the move as a sign that Beijing has lost confidence in American economic policy.

"There are definitely economic considerations that one may have some doubts about the U.S. economic policy or how will it develop further in the times of crisis. So it makes sense to say that one does not trust it, and to make a smooth, mild turnaround," says Doris Fischer, an expert on Chinese economy at the German Development Institute in Bonn.

Fischer however warns against reading too much into it, stressing that a weak American economy will not be beneficial for China either.

The interdependence between China and the US is also not restricted to just economic issues. President Obama seeks China's help to toughen sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program and to bring North Korea back to the six party nuclear disarmament talks.

Author: Disha Uppal
Editor: Thomas Bärthlein