[NYTr] Bush Digs in Heels, Again, Defends Honoring Dalai Lama

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[And the ass could have blamed it all on Congress!  What a JERK! -NYTr]


Associated Press via Forbes - Oct 17, 2007
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/10/17/ap4231088.html

Bush Defends Honoring Dalai Lama

By FOSTER KLUG

WASHINGTON -President Bush, raising the ire of Beijing, on Wednesday
called on Chinese leaders to welcome the Dalai Lama to the communist
nation. The president called him a "universal symbol of peace and
tolerance, a shepherd of the faithful and a keeper of the flame for his
people."

"He has won the respect and affection of the American people," Bush
said at the U.S. Capitol where the spiritual head of Tibet's Buddhists
received the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal.

"America cannot look to the plight of the religiously oppressed and
close their eyes or turn away," said Bush, who personally handed the
medal to the Dalai Lama.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further
information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Wednesday staunchly defended his
participation in a U.S. ceremony honoring the Dalai Lama, saying "I
support religious freedom, he supports religious freedom."

At a White House news conference just hours before he was to travel to
the U.S. Capitol to witness the spiritual head of Tibet's Buddhists
getting the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal, Bush told reporters,
"I admire the Dalai Lama a lot" and said that U.S. relations with China
would not be damaged by his position on this issue.

China has vehemently protested the elaborate public ceremony.

"I'm going because I want to honor this man," Bush told reporters. "I
have consistently told the Chinese that religious freedom is in their
nation's interest. I've also told them that it's in their interest to
meet with the Dalai Lama and will say so at the ceremony."

The Bush administration had taken pains Tuesday to keep a private
meeting with the president and the Dalai Lama from further infuriating
China: no media access, not even a handout photo.

It is a delicate bit of diplomatic balancing. Bush wants to ease anger
in China, a growing economic and military powerhouse that the United
States needs to manage nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea. He
also wants to be seen as a champion of religious freedom and human
rights.

For his part, the Dalai Lama seemed unfazed about China's furious
reaction.

"That always happens," he said with a laugh, speaking to reporters
gathered outside his hotel.

The Dalai Lama is lauded in much of the world as a figure of moral
authority, but Beijing demonizes the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate
and claims he seeks to destroy China's sovereignty by pushing for
independence for Tibet.

The Dalai Lama says he wants "real autonomy" for Tibet, not
independence. He is immensely popular in the Himalayan region, which
China has ruled with a heavy hand since its communist-led forces
invaded in 1951. He has lived with followers in exile in India since
fleeing Chinese soldiers in Tibet in 1959.

China has demanded that the United States cancel this week's
celebrations. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Beijing said the
events "seriously wounded the feelings of the Chinese people and
interfered with China's internal affairs."

"China is strongly resentful of and resolutely opposes this and has
made solemn representation to the U.S. side," Foreign Ministry
spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a comment carried Wednesday by the
official Xinhua News Agency.

"We seriously urged the U.S. side to correct such wrong doing and stop
interfering in China's internal affairs in any forms," Liu said.

Chinese state media declared earlier Wednesday the U.S. "must be held
responsible for the consequences."

"We are not willing to see damage done to relations between the two
countries, but this event will certainly cast a shadow over the
relations," the official China Daily newspaper said in an unsigned
editorial.

U.S. lawmakers regularly criticize Beijing for human rights abuses and
a massive military buildup and claim that China ignores abuse by
unsavory foreign governments in Sudan and Myanmar in its pursuit of
energy and business deals.

The Bush administration also finds fault with China but is usually more
measured as it seeks to manage a booming trade relationship and a
desire to enlist Chinese cooperation in world affairs.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.