Govt: nothing political over Dalai Lama’s Arunachal visit

NEW DELHI/BEIJING: China on Wednesday reacted angrily to the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh and said that by ignoring Beijing’s concerns over the issue New Delhi has caused “serious damage” to bilateral ties.

India reiterated that no political colour should be attributed to the Tibetan spiritual leader’s visit to the northeastern state.

Diplomatic tensions escalated with Beijing summoning the Indian envoy Vijay Gokhale to lodge its protest, even as the 81-year-old Tibetan leader, who arrived in Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday, said in Bomdila that India has never used him against China.

In a prelude to China’s belligerence, the Chinese state-run media warned that New Delhi’s inviting the Tibetan spiritual leader to the “sensitive region” would “gravely damage” India-China relations.

China considers large parts of Arunachal Pradesh as south Tibet, while India has said that Arunachal is an inseparable part of its territory.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, addressing a regular briefing, voiced Beijing’s “firm opposition” to the Dalai Lama’s visit and said her country would lodge “stern representations with the Indian side”. Hua said that India “in disregard” to China’s concerns “obstinately” went ahead to arrange the Tibetan leader’s visit, causing “serious damage” to China’s interests and China-India relations.

She said that India should “immediately cease using the Dalai Lama’s mistaken behaviour to damage China’s interests” and not “hype up sensitive” bilateral issues.

The state-run Global Times accused the Indian government of “openly using” the Dalai Lama “as a diplomatic tool to win more leverage”. It said India was trying to play the Tibet card against China as “New Delhi is dissatisfied with Beijing’s stance over its membership bid to the Nuclear Suppliers Group and its request to name Masood Azhar, head of Pakistani militant group, to a UN Security Council blacklist”. Reacting to Beijing’s objection against his visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the Nobel Peace Laureate said: “There are many in China who love India, but there are some narrowminded politicians because of their certain views... they considered me as a demon.”

Denying Chinese assertions that India was using him as a diplomatic leverage to challenge China, the Tibetan spiritual leader said: “I am India’s longest standing guest.” — IANS