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Canadian PM meets Dalai Lama

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper held formal talks with the Dalai Lama on Monday, becoming the first Canadian leader to ignore China's warnings not to host the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

"It was clearly an historic meeting," Secretary of State for Multiculturalism Jason Kenney said.

"I hope that the entire world gets the message that attacking a 72-year-old pacifist Buddhist monk who advocates nothing more than cultural autonomy for his people is counterproductive," Kenny said.

The two leaders met in Harper's office for about 40 minutes and had "a very full and frank exchange of views," Kenney said.

They discussed human rights, Tibet's history and the plight of its people, he said.

The Dalai Lama also thanked the prime minister for making him an honorary Canadian citizen. The Dalai Lama was granted honorary Canadian citizenship last year.

Kenney said the two leaders did not discuss NATO's combat mission in Afghanistan, about which the Dalai Lama had earlier expressed concern.

"It's our view that we are in Afghanistan at the invitation of the Afghan government and the United Nations with the support of the Afghan people to defend them from violence," Kenney said.

"And, I believe, if you look at Tibetan history you'll see that self-defense is considered legitimate," he said.

Kenney dismissed Beijing's warning that hosting the Dalai Lama would sour Sino-Canadian relations, noting that bilateral trade has risen steadily despite Harper's harsh criticisms of China's human-rights record.

`NON-POLITICAL'

In a statement to the daily Globe and Mail, the Chinese foreign ministry said it had pressed Ottawa to turn the Dalai Lama away, asking Canadian officials to "clearly understand the nature of the Dalai Lama's separatist activities."

For his part, the Dalai Lama said his visit was "non-political."

"My main interest or my main commitment is promotion of human value, promotion of religious harmony," he said.

"I always admire this country's multi-racial, multi-culture, multi-religions ... which are, I think, a good model to [the] rest of the world where some ethnic groups are troubled," he said.

"I think that those concerned Chinese officials should learn more from your ministry [about] how to work for promotion of unity on the basis of mutual respect," he said of Kenney's Ministry of Heritage.

The Dalai Lama arrived in Ottawa on Sunday on the last leg of a North American tour to promote Tibetan autonomy and the preservation of its Buddhist culture ahead of next year's Olympic Games in Beijing.

Earlier, the Dalai Lama said he had "reservations" about the US-led war in Afghanistan, and Canada's participation in it.

"When I met President Bush, I told him directly that some of your policies [on Iraq and Afghanistan], I have some reservations. But as a person, I love you. I mention like that," he told reporters.

The Dalai Lama had been in Washington to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor that can be bestowed by the US Congress.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (劉建超) yesterday called Monday's meeting a "gross interference" in China's internal affairs.

"We express strong dissatisfaction," he told a news conference in Beijing yesterday.

"We hope they can reflect on and correct the erroneous actions," Liu said.
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