[NYTr] Bush hands Dalai Lama US medal

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP - Oct 17, 2007
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DALAI_LAMA?SITE=CASRP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Bush hands Dalai Lama US medal

By FOSTER KLUG
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Dalai Lama accepted the Congressional Gold
Medal Wednesday, joining President Bush and the leaders of Congress in
urging reconciliation with the Chinese government that has kept him in
exile for nearly half a century.

The world is waiting "to see how China's concepts of harmonious society
and peaceful rights" unfold, the saffron-robed Tibetan monk said after
becoming the 146th recipient of the most prestigious award bestowed by
Congress. He repeated his long-held position that he is only seeking
autonomy for the people of Tibet, not independence from China.

President Bush, defying Chinese complaints about the public honoring of
a man it regards as a threat to Beijing's control of Tibet, 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."

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

"Let this man of peace visit Beijing," said House Foreign Affairs
Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, D-Calif., saying such a gesture would
ensure the right atmosphere for the Beijing Olympics next summer.

The 72-year-old Buddhist leader struggled to deliver his remarks in
English, but laughed at his own mistakes and joked that politicians,
despite their good intentions, sometimes tell "a little lie here and
there."

China vehemently protested the elaborate public ceremony. But at a news
conference earlier in the day, Bush said that he did not think his
attendance at the ceremony would damage U.S. relations with China.

"I support religious freedom; he supports religious freedom. ... I want
to honor this man," Bush told reporters at the White House. "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."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said this was the first time a
U.S. president has appeared in public with the Dalai Lama. The Bush
administration took pains on 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.

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.

China had 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 wrongdoing 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.

© 2007 The Associated Press.