President Barack Obama has decided to go ahead with his meeting with Dalai Lama even as the pressure from China keeps mounting. Just after the US made announcement of the meeting, China was quick to react.
In its official statement, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said that it firmly opposed any such visit to be done by Obama. Even after this, the US stand continued to support for such a meeting to take place.
The meeting is supposed to take place on 18th February and US spokesman Robert Gibbs has confirmed it saying that the mature relationship between the two countries can withstand such things. It is not going happen that the two agree on everything every time.
Gibbs further added that Dalai Lama was an internationally respected religious leader who is standing for the rights of Tibetans.
Earlier, President Obama avoided meeting with Dalai Lama in 2009 and this meeting has been awaited curiously by many for long.
Meanwhile, the Sino-US relations continued to be strained after many issues like the Google spat and US selling arms to Tibet.