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.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS