Obama's Dalai Lama Goof

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Feb.12, 2010
All Rights Reserved.                                

                 Picking the wrong battle at the wrong time, President Barack Obama antagonized the Peoples Republic of China, agreeing to host the Dalai Lama at the White House Feb. 18.  Looking for China’s help in the U.N. Security Council to contain a growing Iranian nuclear threat, Obama’s decision to meet with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader slaps Chinese officials in the face, making cooperation in the Security Council less likely.  Despised by the Chinese for pushing Tibet’s independence, the Dalai Lama has met several generations of American presidents, starting with Jimmy Carter, including Ronald Reagan and ending with former President George W. Bush.  Tibet’s Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, the same year that Chinese tanks flattened pro-Democcracy protestors in Tiananmen Square.  Barack’s decision to meet the Buddhist leader carries domestic and foreign political risks.

            Given the brutal crackdown in Tehran, with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declaring Feb. 11 the Persian nation a nuclear power, Barack could ill-afford to lose support on the Security Council.  Rejecting U.S. and U.N. attempts to halt its nuclear enrichment program, Ahmandinejad pushed ahead with a national festivities commemorating Ayalatollah Ruhollah Khomenei’s Islamic Revolution.  Barack faced GOP criticism whether or not he cancelled or confirmed his meeting with Dalai Lama.  Before agreeing to meet with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, Barack needed to weigh carefully new global security risks attached to Iran’s nuclear program.  Barack repeatedly warned Tehran last year to halt enriching uranium by the end of the year or face more draconic U.N. sanctions.  He knew that, without China’s vote, there would be no more U.N. sanctions.

               Meeting with Dalai Lama, like other great spiritual leaders, carries only symbolic significance, changing little on the world stage.  “I do not know if their specific reaction was to cancel it,” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, acting clueless about the possible consequences.  “If that was their specific reaction, the meeting will take place as planned next Thursday,” demonstrating the kind of rebelliousness, antagonizing China at a time demanding the most possible international cooperation.  China has become a strategic trading and manufacturing partner with U.S. corporations, creating one of the world’s most mutually beneficial alliances.  Recent arms sales to Taiwan also provoked the PRC, hurting U.S. chances of building the kind of cooperation on the Security Council to help deal with the world’s most dangerous threat to world peace.

            When the Dalai Lama visited Washington in 2009, Barack avoided any contact, especially when the U.S. needed China’s financial support during the worst of the U.S. financial crisis.  China holds about $1 trillion in U.S. T-bills, resisting calls at the U.N. to dump the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency.  Despite decoupling from the U.S. dollar in 2004, China has deliberately resisted floating the Yuan, to keep manufacturing costs at competitive levels.  U.S.-Sino economic cooperation is essential for the rocky U.S. recovery, bumping along while Asian markets continue to outperform U.S. and European economies.  With the growing economic woes across the pond in Europe, the U.S. can’t afford to antagonize China, especially considering the Iranian situation.  White House strategists must show more sensitivity to China’s historic beef with Tibet and the Dalai Lama.

            Publicly humiliating Chinese leaders does nothing to improve the chances of winning Beijing’s support on the Security Council.  “China urges the U.S. to immediately call off the wrong decision of arranging for President Obama to meet with the Dalai Lama,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ma Zhaoxui.  Public admonitions have a boomerang effect on White House policy.  If Barack looks like he’s cowering to Beijing, he gets slammed in the right wing press.  While the Dalai Lama insists he doesn’t seek Tibetan independence, he does want “meaningful autonomy.”  China has no patience for the 74-year-old scion of Tibetan Buddhism, whose public exposure around the globe sticks a proverbial stick in China’s eye.  Giving him the high-profile global PR at the Oval Office does nothing to help the U.S. promote human rights or manage a growing Iranian nuclear threat.

            Since his election inauguration last year, Barack has disappointed many voters with high expectations for the 48-year-old charismatic Democrat.  While his oratorical skills have not disappointed, he’s guilty of rookie mistakes, picking the wrong battles, letting Congress call the shots and, more recently, antagonizing China.  Getting a fresh start with health care Feb. 25, Barack must prove he’s the bipartisan leader capable of cobbling together support to fix the nation’s broken health care system.  With California’s Anthem Blue Cross poised for whopping rate hikes, Obama must work with House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to find common ground for the good of the country.  Picking a fight with China doesn’t divert attention from treacherous domestic and foreign policy challenges in 2010.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.