China Cautions ‘Black’ Obama Over Meeting Dalai Lama
From the Times of India:
China on Thursday invoked Abraham Lincoln’s anti-slavery philosophy to persuade US president Barack Obama from meeting the Dalai Lama… ”He is a black president, and he understands the slavery abolition movement and Lincoln’s major significance for that movement,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters.
Qin pointed out the Chinese government had abolished slavery, which was widespread in Tibet during the regime of the Dalai Lama, in 1959. Obama should also realize that the Dalai Lama was trying to split China and was a serious challenge to its national unity.
“Lincoln played an incomparable role in protecting the national unity and territorial integrity of the United States,” Qin said while referring to Obama’s admiration for Lincoln. China’s stance on the issue is similar to that of Lincoln, he said.
Read more about how Obama’s race is playing into Chinese perceptions of him, via The Hindu and the Washington Post.
POSTED COMMENTS: 7 Responses
True Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery of the blacks,but, President Obama is both,his father is black,and his mother is white. Which is a big difference in the situation in Tibet,the han chinese are killing all the Tibetans,and masquerading hans as Tibetans,so genocide was not President Lincoln’s intention,He freed the slaves,so they could have rights,as part of our country,and not wipe them out.And the greedy “CORRUPT” slave owners had to pay the freed black slaves as they would pay a white person. The CORRUPT,MURDEROUS,LECHEROUS communist party,are nothing more than hoods,who keep a whole country as slaves,and any ethnic group that is not han,is on the endangered list,or already extinct.
Also,china loaned the U.S. money,so what,that does not give china the right to tell any country, who they may or may not have as a guest,and friend to their country. china should keep their opinions to themselves,and shut the f–k up. china is acting like a horribly spoiled child that should be sent to their room,till they behave “DECENT”,or stay in their room alone forever.
Ugh, sometimes I think the choice of words made by these spokesmen is just the worst possible.
Trying to appeal to the legacy of American slavery with regards to Obama, and tying that to the Dalai Lama is absurd, what kind of response were they expecting?
The issue of Tibet is moot because the whole US is like Tibet while the American Indians are like Tibetans. You do not see Chinese leaders go to an American Indian reservation to hear their grievances. Tibet independence is tantamount to the US returns the whole country to the American Indians. That will never happen. If you are for Tibetan rights, you should also ask Obama to return the US to the American Indians. Also, Dalai Lama was on the payroll of the CIA. We all know what the CIA represents. “There is the Constitution, then, there is the CIA.”
This comment by a high-level Chinese official not only shows this person’s racist views about African-Americans but also a complete ignorance of Tibetan & PRC history.
The CCP claim to have liberated Tibet in 1951 & now say that this liberation was to free Tibetan serfs from the terrible reign of the Dalai Lamas. Yet when China signed the 1951 17 Point Agreement, they included a clause guaranteeing the traditional authority of the Dalai Lama would be preserved. What kind of liberator frees the serfs & then promises to respect the authority of the so-called “serf lord/slaveowner”?
Mao met the Dalai Lama in 1954 & praised him & greeted him almost as a head of state. Why such a grand reception for a slaveowner if that’s what China believes the Dalai Lama is?
The CCP’s rhetoric doesn’t match its own actions. They maintain the Dalai Lama is welcome back in Tibet but at the same time they accuse him of being this terrible person & they sign treaties guaranteeing his right to rule. Huh?!
One can see the devotion Tibetans have the Dalai Lama by visiting the Potala in Lhasa where thousands of Tibetan visit each year to pay their respects to the Dalai Lama’s former residence. Many Tibetans secretly carry images of the Dalai Lama b/c China won’t allow them to publicly display them. In 2008 thousands of Tibetans protested China’s anti-Dalai Lama campaign & called for his swift return to Tibet. Wherever the Dalai Lama goes, Tibetans in the local area put on their best clothes & go see him to pay their respects. Why would so many Tibetans, even those raised w/ a Chinese education, revere the Dalai Lama if he was so horrible to them when he lived in Tibet?
Since 1642 when the govt of the Dalai Lamas was installed in Tibet until 1959, when the 14th Dalai Lama fled into exile, there has never been an anti-Dalai Lama rebellion by Tibetans. Yet since 1951, when the PRC occupation of Tibet began, there have been several large, mass uprisings against China, the latest being in 2008. If anything, it is Chinese rule that Tibetans find enslaving, not the Dalai Lama.
Wangchuck, an US official? Don’t you think the whole US is like Tibet? Tibet was part of China since 13th century. Please check out wikipedia for reference.
For a big picture you certainly do have a narrow Field Of View. Tibet was incorporated into the Mongolian Empire in the 14th century. China proper was incorporated some 50+ years afterward. The bologne statement about Tibet being a part of “China” since the 13th century is a gross misnomer.