The Dalai Lama traveled to New York in June for medical therapy on his knees.
New York:
Senior officers from the U.S. State Division and the White Home met with the Dalai Lama in New York on Wednesday and “reaffirmed the U.S. dedication to advancing the human rights of Tibetans,” the State Division mentioned.
The assembly with the 89-year-old exiled religious chief of Tibetan Buddhism will seemingly irritate China, which considers him a harmful separatist and opposes contact by officers of any nation with him.
The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed rebellion in opposition to Chinese language rule in Tibet, traveled to New York in June for medical therapy on his knees, his first go to to the USA since 2017.
A State Division assertion mentioned Uzra Zeya, the U.S. undersecretary of state for human rights and particular coordinator for Tibetan points, traveled to New York for an viewers with the Dalai Lama, joined by the White Home director for human rights, Kelly Razzouk.
It mentioned Zeya “conveyed, on behalf of President Biden, greatest needs for His Holiness’s good well being and reaffirmed the U.S. dedication to advancing the human rights of Tibetans and supporting efforts to protect their distinct historic, linguistic, cultural, and spiritual heritage.”
Zeya mentioned U.S. efforts to deal with human rights abuses in Tibet and assist for a resumption of dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama, the assertion mentioned.
A gaggle of U.S. lawmakers met the Dalai Lama in India earlier than his U.S. journey and mentioned they might not permit China to affect the selection of his successor.
Final month, China expressed sturdy opposition to a U.S. legislation signed by President Joe Biden that presses Beijing to resolve a dispute over Tibet’s calls for for better autonomy and vowed to “firmly defend” its pursuits.
The Dalai Lama has met U.S. officers, together with U.S. presidents, throughout earlier visits to the U.S., however Biden has not met him since taking workplace in 2021.
In 2020, Biden criticized then President Donald Trump for being the one president in three a long time who had not met or spoken with the Tibetan religious chief, calling it “disgraceful.”
Wednesday’s assembly comes at a time when Biden has sought to stabilize rocky ties with China forward of a presidential election on Nov. 5, during which Vice President Kamala Harris is pitted in opposition to Trump.
China’s embassy in Washington didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the assembly.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)