The West is appeasing China: Dalai aides

Tibetan "prime minister-in-exile" Samdhong Rinpoche on Tuesday accused the US and other Western nations of appeasing China after aides to the Dalai Lama said the exile would not meet US President Barack Obama during his planned visit to Washington next month, AFP reported.

The Dalai Lama was reportedly hoping to see Obama. Since 1991, every US president has met with him.
"A lot of nations are adopting a policy of appeasement. Even the US government is practicing some kind of appeasement. Today, economic interests are much greater than other interests," AFP quoted Rinpoche as saying.

He made the remark in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala, home of the Tibetan "government-in-exile."
Analysts say a meeting between Obama and the Dalai Lama before the US president's maiden trip to Beijing in November would have been sure to spark an angry response from China.

Shen Dingli, a professor on US studies at the Institute of International Studies of Shanghai's Fudan University, agreed that Obama's decision must be out of economic and other interests that are vital to the US people.
"I don't think we should feel provoked if Obama chooses to see the Dalai Lama," Shen said.

"Neither should we see it as a gesture of pleasing China if Obama chooses not to see the Dalai Lama. Obama's decision is based on the interests of his own country," Shen added.