I just read that China has warned Obama not to meet with the Lama – the “Dalai Lama”. China considers Tibet to belong to China, whereas the Dalai Lama and his followers think otherwise. As the reader may know, Chinese authorities, backed up by their military, occupied much of Tibet starting in 1950. The Dalai Lama himself fled Tibet for India at the end of that decade. Ever since, what has often been called Tibet has been occupied and ruled by China.
Well, I myself don’t much care. For a few centuries there has been controversy over what portion of the Himalayan mountains makes up Tibet, and Chinese rulers have effectively ruled over large parts of the area on and off for centuries. I note that last year Obama did not meet with the Dalai Lama when the latter was in Washington, supposedly because Obama did not want to upset the Chinese before Obama made a trip to China.
Heck, I have a question. Why meet with the Dalai Lama in the first place? Never mind what China or anyone else thinks about it. Just who is this guy, the “Dalai Lama”, a guy whom a lot of people seem to revere, the Chinese excepted? I certainly would never meet the guy. If you wonder why, just read my article on the Dalai Lama. I first wrote it over one year ago, although I have edited it slightly since then.