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Foreign Secretary Nirupama Roa meets Dalai Lama

By Lobsang Wangyal | Tibet Sun

Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Samdhong Rinpoche, receives Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao at a hotel in Mcleod Ganj, India, on 10 July 2010.Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal/India

Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupma Rao met the Dalai Lama at his residence in Mcleod Ganj on Saturday.

The Dalai Lama’s spokesman Tenzin Taklha said the two discussed “issues of common interest”, without elaborating.

The meeting took place with a backdrop of a tour to Beijing early this week by National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, during which he met senior Chinese leaders.

Menon met with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, and State Councillor Dai Bingguo, who is also the Chinese representative designated to discuss the Sino-India border issue.

Upon landing at the Gaggal Airport in the afternoon, more than an hour late, Ms Rao was received by Cabinet Secretary of the Tibetan government-in-exile Migyur Dorjee and the Dalai Lama’s representative in Delhi Tempa Tsering.

She then travelled to McLeod Ganj to attend a luncheon meeting with the exile Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche and his cabinet colleagues.

After meeting the Tibetan Prime Minister, Ms Rao met with the Dalai Lama in a closed-door meeting which lasted for more than an hour.

Ms Rao will will leave for Delhi tomorrow.

India follows the “one-China policy” and recognises Tibet as a part of China.

The Dalai Lama has been living in exile in the Indian hill-town of Mcleod Ganj since fleeing Tibet in 1959. He is seeking autonomy for Tibet, not outright independence, through his “Middle-way” approach.

China accuses him as a ‘splittist’ who is bent on splitting Tibet from China.

Copyright © 2010 Tibet Sun

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