talk.politics.china

An Example of a Responsible Leader -- Despite censure from Beijing,
Merkel meets with Dalai Lama in Berlin

By Judy Dempsey

Sunday, September 23, 2007

/images/2007/09/23/
Angela Merkel with the Dalai Lama in Berlin on Sunday. She was the first
German chancellor to meet with the exiled Tibetan. (Pool photo by Markus
Schreiber)

BERLIN: Defying Chinese criticism and pressure, Chancellor Angela Merkel
met the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, on Sunday in Berlin,
becoming the first German chancellor to do so, despite warnings from
Beijing that it could damage economic contacts.

Merkel, who has made the defense of human rights one of the hallmarks of
her foreign policy since taking office nearly two years ago, met the
72-year-old Dalai Lama in the Chancellery for private talks.

The meeting was harshly condemned by the authorities in China, one of
Germany's major trading partners.

Unusually, China did not censor Internet postings that insulted Merkel,
calling her a "witch" and saying she was "playing with fire."

China also canceled a high-level meeting on the protection of
intellectual property rights scheduled to take place in Munich on Sunday
of Chinese legal experts and Brigitte Zypries, the German justice
minister. A statement from the German Justice Ministry said the meeting
was called off "for technical reasons."

The Tibetan spiritual leader has been in India since 1959, leading a
government in exile and demanding greater autonomy for Tibet, which was
occupied by China in 1950.

Although the Dalai Lama has visited Germany several times, previous
chancellors had refused to meet him, fearing it could upset relations
with Beijing. Merkel met him in 2005 when she was the opposition leader.

Ulrich Wilhelm, the government spokesman, said the meeting Sunday was
part of a series of contacts between the chancellor and religious
leaders. He added that the meeting would involve human rights in Tibet
and German-Chinese relations. "Tibet is a human rights issue that we
have brought up with China," Wilhelm said.

But Jiang Yu, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said the
Dalai Lama, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, was not
simply a religious figure. "He is a longtime political exile engaged in
separatist activities," Jiang said, adding that China opposed any
contact by other governments with the Dalai Lama.

When Merkel was in China last month for an official visit, she raised
the issue of human rights at almost every opportunity.

She also made it plain to the Chinese that she wanted to see progress on
protecting intellectual property rights. German companies have
repeatedly complained about a host of infringements.

Merkel's meeting with the Dalai Lama was praised by some senior
officials in her party and from the opposition. A fellow conservative of
Merkel's, Roland Koch, the premier of Hesse state who has forged a
friendship with the Dalai Lama over 25 years and who met him over the
weekend, said Merkel was right not to cave in to Chinese pressure.

"We Germans can be happy and proud that human rights issues mean so much
to Angela Merkel and that she talks straight and acts accordingly," Koch
said in an interview with the newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

The opposition Green Party, which was in coalition with then-Chancellor
Gerhard Schro"der's Social Democrats from 1998 to 2005, also praised
Merkel's stance. Human rights were not a key issue during Schro"der's
government.