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Dalai Lama envoy among invitees at President Bush luncheon

By Lobsang Wangyal | Tibet Sun

President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush participate in a photo opportunity with dissidents on Tuesday, 23 September 2008, on Governors Island in New York. Third from left is Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, Special Envoy of the Dalai Lama. White House/Eric Draper/US

Dalai Lama’s special envoy Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari was among dissidents invited by the US President Bush for a luncheon on Tuesday.

“Laura and I and Secretary Rice and members of my administration have just had a wonderful lunch with democracy leaders, human rights activists, courageous men and women who have stood strong for freedom,” Bush said after the lunch, according to the website of the White House.

“I assured them that this government, my government, believes in the universality of freedom.”

Bush has expressed support to the Tibetan issue throughout his presidency, to have a negotiated settlement with the Chinese leaders. However he has exerted so little leverage or obligation that the Chinese leadership feels hardly any pressure.

Bush, who will be in the White House for a few more months, has enjoyed a good relationship with the Chinese leadership.

Envoy Gyari and his colleague Kelsang Gyaltsen are expected to go to China for the eighth round of dialogue with the Chinese leaders in October.

Invitees to the luncheon, which took place on the sidelines of the 63rd United Nations General Assembly, included dissidents from Russia, Lithuania, Sierra Leone, Belarus, Burma, Cuba, North Korea, Syria and Tibet.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also attended the event, which was held at Governors Island in New York.

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