The Dalai Lama warned major countries yesterday not to try to contain China's economic and military rise and urged countries like Australia to use their trading clout to pressure Beijing on human rights.
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, speaking in Canberra, said he shared concerns about growing strategic and trade ties between the US, India, Japan and Australia, which Beijing has interpreted as moves toward encirclement.
"It is absolutely wrong to isolate China and also contain China. It's wrong, morally also wrong," the Dalai Lama told the Australian National Press Club.
"China must be brought into the mainstream of the world community, and now fortunately China themselves [sic] want to join the world community. Most welcome. Very good," he said.
"However ... while you are making good relations, genuine friendship with China, certain principles such as human rights and also democracy, rule of law, free press, these things you should stand firm. That means you are a true friend of China," he said.
The US, Japan and Australia have said their growing defense ties are not aimed at containing China, even though India last month joined the three in security talks.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard and pro-China Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd said yesterday they would ignore pressure from the Chinese embassy in Canberra not to meet the Tibetan Buddhist leader, despite vague warnings of repercussions.
Howard and Rudd initially said they would not meet the Dalai Lama during his 10-day visit to Australia, which began last week.
But following accusations of kowtowing to China, they both said they would check their diaries to see whether they had time.
Howard found he could make time to meet the Dalai Lama on Friday in Sydney. Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat, met him yesterday at a Canberra hotel.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (
"The Dalai is not a purely religious figure; he is a long-term political exile who engages in splitting the motherland and sabotaging unity among ethnic groups," Qin said.
"We express our strong dissatisfaction and stern representations over Australia ignoring China and insisting on allowing the Dalai to engage in activities in Australia," he said.
The Australia Tibet Council urged Rudd, who is riding high in the polls, to support greater autonomy for Tibet if he won power in a general election later this year.
But China warned Australia against supporting Tibet.
"The issues of the Dalai and Tibet are absolutely not human rights issues, but issues about separatism and anti-separatism. We hope that the Australian government will be able to fully understand this issue," Qin said.
The Dalai Lama admitted China's fast-growing world influence was hampering his access to some world leaders to press demands for greater autonomy -- not independence -- for his homeland.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS