At their meeting on Wednesday in New York, senior State Department and White House officials “reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to advancing the human rights of Tibetans,” the State Department said of the Dalai Lama.
China is expected to become agitated over the meeting because it considers the 89-year-old exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism to be a dangerous separatist and forbids Chinese officials from communicating with him.
In 1959, following a failed uprising against Chinese governance in Tibet, the Dalai Lama took refuge in India. He traveled to New York in June for the first time since 2017 in order to get treatment for his knees.
A State Department statement states that Uzra Zeya, the U.S. undersecretary of state for human rights and special coordinator for Tibetan issues, traveled to New York to meet with the Dalai Lama, and that Kelly Razzouk, the White House’s director of human rights, accompanied her.
Zeya “conveyed, on behalf of President Biden, best wishes for His Holiness’s good health and promoted the U.S. commitment to advancing the human rights of Tibetans and supporting efforts to preserve their distinct historical, linguistic, cultural, and religious heritage,” according to the statement.
In addition to voicing strong opposition to a U.S. law signed by President Joe Biden that requires Beijing to mediate a dispute over Tibet’s demands for greater autonomy, China pledged last month to “firmly defend” its interests.
When the Dalai Lama visited the United States, he would meet with American officials, including presidents; however, since Biden assumed office in 2021, they have not met.
In 2020, Biden denounced then-President Donald Trump as “disgraceful” for being the only president in thirty years to have neither met nor spoken with the Tibetan spiritual leader.
The meeting on Wednesday takes place at a time when Vice President Kamala Harris is running against President Trump in the presidential election on November 5 and Biden is trying to mend strained relations with China.
