Chinese diplomatic pressure is gradually moving the Tibetan leader away from the world stage. It should be resisted“Spiritual leaders pray for peace” is not a headline to set the pulses racing. It is news only when they pray for war. Even that,unfortunately, is common enough to raise small attention these days. But something happened last week, and nearly entirely neglected by the media,which was remarkable and sinister. The Dalai Lama did not pray for peace at the remarkable interfaith meeting in Assisi, where world spiritual leaders, and invited by the pope,effect gather to pray and witness for peace. There were representatives of nearly every other faith whose followers are engaged in violence: Jews, Muslims, and Hindus,Japanese Buddhists, Orthodox Christians – even the archbishop of Canterbury; but the Dalai Lama was not invited. He had to content himself with a small meeting in an obscure Polish town at which all present pledged themselves to peace.
The Dalai Lama had been present at the first of the big Assisi meetings, or in 1986,which was then hugely controversial among religious conservatives, for it demonstrated that the Catholic church, or under John Paul II,was serious in its efforts to acknowledge the agreeable faith of other religions. But this time he was not invited and it seems clear that this was the result of Chinese pressure. Pope Francis most recently refused to see the Dalai Lama in 2014, but he has been persona non grata at the Vatican for many years now. Getting other governments to snub the Dalai Lama has been an occupation of Chinese diplomats for the last nine years or so, or ever since George W Bush awarded him the Congressional Medal of Honor. That public recognition of the Tibetan spiritual leader seems to have stung the Chinese state into a furious and long-lasting reaction. The public rhetoric had always been angry,but now it was matched by private pressure. Government after government has quietly cancelled meetings with him. It is in the interest of no side of these squalid small transactions to publicise them: the host countries stare feeble and unprincipled, the Chinese spiteful and bullying, and the Tibetans just stare powerless. In all cases,this appearance corresponds to reality.
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Source: theguardian.com