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Don't welcome Dalai Lama, China tells Dutch parliament

By Mike Corder | AP

The Dalai Lama in a file photo taken on 10 March 2009 in Dharamshala, India. China’s ambassador Zhang Jun sent a letter to the chairman of Dutch Parliament’s foreign affairs committee urging lawmakers not to invite the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader to the country.File photo/Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal/India

Dutch lawmakers said Thursday they will invite the Dalai Lama to parliament despite a warning from China that the visit would harm relations between the two nations.

A lawmaker for the ruling Christian Democrats also sharply criticised China’s ambassador for attempting to interfere with Dutch politics.

The ambassador sent a letter to the chairman of Parliament’s foreign affairs committee urging lawmakers not to invite the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

The Dutch don’t interfere with Chinese political meetings “and we expect the same respect from the Chinese ambassador,” legislator Maarten Haverkamp said.

The Dalai Lama is expected to visit in June.

The Chinese ambassador, Zhang Jun, could not be reached for comment and the parliament refused to release his letter.

However, national broadcaster NOS obtained a copy and posted it on its Web site.

In it, Zhang says he does not want to see “the momentum of our bilateral relations in this challenging time of global economic crisis be severely weakened by this issue.”

China’s growing economic might has emboldened it to increasingly push to isolate the Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

Beijing froze high-level contacts with France after President Nicolas Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama in Poland in December. Relations were restored under a deal in which France pledged to reject Tibetan independence in any form.

Also, South Africa drew criticism last month when it barred the Dalai Lama from attending a peace conference, a move widely seen as bowing to pressure from Beijing.

Last month marked the first anniversary of anti-government riots in Lhasa, Tibet’s regional capital, and 50 years since the Dalai Lama escaped into exile in India after Chinese troops crushed a Tibetan uprising.

China claims Tibet as part of its territory, but many Tibetans say Chinese rule deprives them of religious freedom and autonomy. Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of pushing for Tibetan independence and fomenting anti-Chinese protests.

Copyright © 2009 AP

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