By DPA
Ottawa : Stephen Harper became the first Canadian prime minister to formally meet the Dalai Lama, prompting protests from China that it was “blatant interference in China’s internal affairs”.
Harper received the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, who Beijing sees as a symbol of independence for Tibet, in his office Monday in Ottawa.
“It is a blatant interference in China’s internal affairs and has severely hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and will gravely undermine the relationship between China and Canada,” Sun Lushan, political counsellor at the Chinese embassy, was quoted as saying by Canadian media.
“If you do something to interrupt the normal trade between the two sides, both sides will be hurt, and fundamentally the interests of the two countries and the two peoples will be hurt,” he added.
Meetings by other world leaders with the 72-year-old Nobel Peace laureate have also drawn China’s anger. Two weeks ago Dalai Lama met US President George W. Bush at the White House before receiving the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest US civilian award, from Bush in a ceremony that honoured him as a fighter for religious freedom.
Like Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel also met the Dalai Lama at an official venue last month, receiving him at the chancellery in Berlin and giving the visit a political air.
Sun described the Dalai Lama as a separatist, but the Buddhist leader himself said during his visit to Ottawa that he hopes Tibet would achieve autonomy within a Chinese state and that Tibetan language, culture and religion would be protected.
He also said he disagreed with Canada’s military deployment in Afghanistan, objecting to “using violence to counter violence”, media reports said.
During his 40-minute meeting with Harper, the two men exchanged traditional white Tibetan silk scarves.
Harper was the second Canadian premier to meet the Dalai Lama. Paul Martin did so in 2004 at the private home of a Roman Catholic archbishop.
China occupied Tibet, a predominantly Buddhist region high in the Himalayas in 1951. After a failed uprising against the Chinese in 1959, the Dalai Lama fled to India, where he leads a government in exile.