Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said on Wednesday that he would visit US President-elect Donald Trump. The meeting would infuriate Beijing, which sees the Nobel Peace Prize-winning monk as a dangerous separatist.
During a visit to Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar, Dalai Lama said that he had always considered the United States, “a leading nation of the free world”.
“I think there are some problems to go to United States, so I will go to see the new president,” he told reporters without elaborating.
President Barack Obama met the Dalai Lama at the White House in June despite a warning by China that it would damage diplomatic relations. It was Obama's fourth White House meeting with the Dalai Lama in the past eight years.
The Dalai Lama, speaking in English, brushed off some of the US election campaign rhetoric.
Sometimes I feel during election the candidate has more freedom to express. Once elected, having the responsibility, they have to tell you their vision.Dalai Lama
China regards the Dalai Lama as a separatist, though he says he merely seeks genuine autonomy for his Himalayan homeland Tibet, which Communist Chinese troops “peacefully liberated” in 1950.
China has been angered by Mongolia’s decision to allow him to visit, through Mongolia’s Foreign Ministry. The government had nothing to do with the trip and it was arranged by Mongolian Buddhists.
After the Dalai Lama's visit to Mongolia in 2006, China briefly cancelled flights between Beijing and Ulaanbaatar.
Beijing frequently expresses its anger with countries that host the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 following a failed uprising against the Chinese.
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