The Dalai Lama gives a Tibetan shawl to Japan’s main opposition Liberal Democratic Party president Shinzo Abe, at the upper house members’ office building in Tokyo, November 13, 2012.
November 13, 2012
The man who could become Japan’s next prime minister met with the Dalai Lama Tuesday and called for freedom in Tibet, prompting an immediate protest by the Chinese government.
Former prime minister Shinzo Abe, an outspoken nationalist who has been critical of Beijing, joined around 130 other parliamentarians in welcoming the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader to a meeting in Tokyo.
“We lawmakers here are in complete agreement, that we want to help the suffering Tibetan people and help create a Tibet in which people do not have to kill themselves in a quest for freedom,” he said.
Speaking at the meeting, the Dalai Lama invited Japanese parliamentarians to visit Tibet to find out the reasons for a wave of self-immolations by Tibetans. He also called on Chinese authorities to conduct a “thorough investigation” into the protests against Chinese rule.
China’s reaction
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei blasted both the Dalai Lama and the Japanese government, saying both were encouraging extremist separatist groups.
“Japan’s right wing openly supports the Dalai Lama’s anti-China, separatist actions and interferes with China’s internal policies. China strongly condemns this,” said Hong Lei. “The Japanese government indulges the Dalai Lama’s separatist movements and the right wing’s anti-Chinese actions, betrays the principle and spirit of mutual benefit between China and Japan. China has already launched a protest.”
Japan-China relations were already strained in recent months after Tokyo nationalized a group of uninhabited East China Sea islands at the center of a long-running dispute between the two Asian neighbors.
