BEIJING: China has raised serious objections over the presence of the Prime Minister of 'Tibetan government-in- exile' at a recent dinner hosted by former US envoy to India, Richard Verma in New Delhi. It said it absolutely opposes any country's "interference" in its internal affairs by using Tibet as an excuse.
"No country in the world recognises the so-called Tibetan government-in-exile," said the Chinese Foreign Ministry in a written response. "We are firmly against any country's official contact with it in any form, and resolutely opposed to any country's interference in China's internal affairs by using Tibet-related issues as an excuse." The dinner hosted by Verma on January 15, was in honour of his visiting friend and Hollywood actor Richard Gere, and reportedly saw Lobsang Sangay, Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, present. Pictures posted on Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju's Twitter showed Sangay and other US diplomats attending the dinner.
Communist country China has routinely protested visits and meetings of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, and his associates, saying it constitutes interference in its internal affairs. Just last year, China objected to Verma's visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh which Beijing claims as southern Tibet. And last month, it took strong exception to the Dalai Lama's meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan during a children's summit.
