Bush hopes Chinese will see Dalai Lama as man of peace

Washington, Oct 12 - The White House has defended US President George Bush's decision to attend a Congressional ceremony to honour exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama risking Chinese anger.

'This is a spiritual leader who is fighting for freedom and democracy, which the president is supporting as well,' press secretary Dana Perino said Thursday announcing that Bush will host the Dalai Lama at the White House next Tuesday.

Next day Bush will also attend a ceremony at the Capitol Hill to bestow the US Congressional Gold Medal, its highest civilian honour, on the 72-year-old leader who has lived in India since fleeing his homeland in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese communist rule.

'(Bush) understands that the Chinese have concerns about this. We would hope that the Chinese leader would get to know the Dalai Lama as the president sees him, as a spiritual leader and someone who wants peace,' she said.

The award ceremony will be the first time Bush will have appeared in public with the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has visited the White House thrice before but always for private meetings. He last met Bush in November 2005.

China views the Dalai Lama, who has set up a governmemt-in-exile (not recognised by any country) in Dharamsala, India, as a separatist. But the Tibetan leader says he only wants greater autonomy for the predominantly Buddhist Himalayan region.

Perino said during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Australia in September, Bush had told Chinese President Hu Jintao that he and his wife Laura looked forward to attending the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony. So 'this should not come as news to the Chinese.'

At the Oct 17 ceremony Bush will reiterate the US view that the Dalai Lama is a great spiritual leader who leads a movement that is aimed not for independence from China, but for the rights of the Tibetan people, she said.

Perino said, 'we would hope that the Chinese leader would get to know the Dalai Lama as the president sees him, as a spiritual leader and someone who wants peace. And that's what the president urges in meetings.

'He understands that the Chinese have concerns about this. They were expressed to the president as well in Australia. He's well aware that there are different feelings about this.

'He believes that as a leader and as the President of the United States, and someone who always attends a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony, that he is going to go and he will proudly be there to witness the event,' she said.

Other recent recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal include the late Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, the late Pope John Paul II and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

(c) Indo-Asian News Service

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