Senior US Officials Meet With Dalai Lama in New York

22/8/2024 12:31

        Senior officials from the U.S. State Department and the White House met with the Dalai Lama in New York on Wednesday and "reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to advancing the human rights of Tibetans," the State Department said.
        
        The meeting with the 89-year-old exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism will likely irritate China, which considers him a dangerous separatist and opposes contact by officials of any country with him.
        
        The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, traveled to New York in June for medical treatment on his knees, his first visit to the United States since 2017.
        
        A State Department statement said Uzra Zeya, the U.S. undersecretary of state for human rights and special coordinator for Tibetan issues, traveled to New York for an audience with the Dalai Lama, joined by the White House director for human rights, Kelly Razzouk.