Dharamshala: The United States House of Representatives Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, on Thursday released a statement praising President Obama’s meeting with exiled Tibetan leader Dalai Lama at the White House in defiance of Chinese warnings.“I commend the President for meeting with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, a champion of peace and non-violence, and a voice for dignity, justice, and respect for all humanity,” the statement read, “His Holiness is a source of wisdom and compassion, a powerful spokesman for the moral duty and inherent worth of every person, and a force for human rights across the globe.”
“President Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama marks another chapter in the long friendship and close ties between the United States and the people of Tibet. As Americans, we must continue to stand with His Holiness to promote, preserve, and protect the rights of all people to live in freedom worldwide,” Pelosi, a longstanding supporter of the Tibetan cause, said in the statement.
After finishing hour-long meeting with Obama, His Holiness told reporters he was “very happy” with the session and President was “very much supportive” of the his "Three Commitments": the promotion of human value, religious harmony, and the concerns of the Tibetan people in addition to his vision of “a greater leadership role for women around the world” and his full committment to resolve the problem of Tibet through the “middle way approach”.
Further commenting on his position as Tibetan leader, His Holiness said, “I have moral responsibility to speak on behalf of six million Tibetan people. And also Tibetan issue is just cause, and cause for peace”, which China state-run media Xinhuanet condemned “ He must have forgotten that the fate of Tibet never relies on him and a few foreigners but has always been decided by all the Chinese people, including all ethnic minorities in the region”.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also met with his Holiness the Dalai Lama in her outer office on the same day.
