India ‘blocked meeting’ between Chinese leader and Dalai Lama

XI JINPING, the Chinese president, agreed to meet the Dalai Lama during a 2014 visit to India but the plan was overruled by the Indian government, a book claims today.

The extraordinary claim from the Tibetan spiritual leader was made in an interview last year and, if true, would fly in the face of decades of implacable opposition to him from Beijing.

Other world leaders have experienced long periods in the diplomatic deep freeze for meeting the Dalai Lama, including David Cameron, who met him in 2012, precipitating a long period of ostracisation for British ministers and officials.

“In 2014, when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Delhi for talks with Prime Minister Modi, I requested a meeting with him,” the Dalai Lama told Sonia Singh, the author of Defining India: Through Their Eyes. “President Xi Jinping agreed, but the Indian government was cautious about the meeting, so it didn’t happen,” according to excerpts from the book, published today.

Ms Singh, editorial director of India’s NDTV rolling news channel, says the meeting had the “promise to change the course of China-tibet relations” had it been allowed to happen – an observation to which the Dalai Lama appears to acquiesce on the tape.

Tenzin Taklha, the Dalai Lama’s personal spokesman, told Agence Francepresse he had no comment to make, neither confirming nor denying the claims in the book.

The Observer reported it had heard a recording of the interview, but added that the Chinese government had dismissed the reports as “sheer nonsense”.

The 83-year-old Buddhist monk has made India his home since fleeing the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1959. He has remained a thorn in Beijing’s side ever since.

India, which gave him asylum in 1959, has supported the Tibetan leader but of late the government has kept its distance, citing diplomatic sensitivities.

The Dalai Lama set up a governmentin-exile in Dharamsala in northern India and launched a campaign to reclaim Tibet that gradually evolved into an appeal for greater autonomy – the socalled “middle way” approach.

The Dalai Lama is also quoted as saying he had “very good relations” with Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, who looked on track this week to win a second term in office.

“He is quite an active Indian prime minister, continuously visiting many countries. That, I admire at his age,” said the Dalai Lama, who himself was admitted to hospital in Delhi last month with a chest infection.