Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called the 14th Dalai Lama to greet him on his 88th birthday and later tweeted praying for his long life, thus tacitly sending out a message to China, which had in the past objected to any engagement between world leaders and the Tibetan leader living in exile in India.
What could also rile up Beijing is that the Tibetan Government in Exile (TGiE) also had a parliamentarian from Taiwan as a special guest at the ceremony it held at its headquarters in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh to celebrate the birthday of the Dalai Lama. The chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, was also present at the ceremony, which was led by Penpa Tsering, the Sikyong (President) of the TGiE.
“Spoke to His Holiness @DalaiLama and conveyed heartfelt greetings to him on his 88th birthday. Wishing him a long and healthy life,” the prime minister posted on Twitter on Thursday.
This was the third year the prime minister went public about his call to the global icon of resistance against China’s rule over Tibet on the latter's birthday. New Delhi had started the practice in 2021, after its relations with Beijing hit a new low over the military stand-off between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
The presence of Hung Sun Han, a member of the Legislative Yuan of Taiwan, in the ceremony held by the TGiE – formally known as Central Tibetan (CTA) – in Dharamshala is also likely to irk Beijing. The move by the TGiE – apparently with tacit consent from New Delhi – came amid China’s belligerence and military muscle-flexing around Taiwan, which escalated tensions between the communist country and the United States.
The Dalai Lama has been living in exile in India following his 1959 escape from Tibet, which had been occupied by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in 1950-51.
The monk, a staunch advocate for non-violence and freedom, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. He has been arguing for “genuine autonomy” – not independence from the Chinese Government’s rule – for Tibet. Beijing, however, still calls him a “separatist” and accuses him of running a campaign to split China.
Beijing had objected to Modi’s call to the Dalai Lama on the Tibetan Buddhist monk’s birthday last year. China would firmly oppose “all forms of contact” between foreign officials and the Dalai Lama, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the communist government had said on July 7, 2022.
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The Dalai Lama’s meeting with the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in August 2010 or his visit to Rashtrapati Bhavan on an invitation from then President Pranab Mukherjee in December 2016 had also triggered strong protests from China. Beijing had also protested New Delhi’s decisions in 2009 and 2017 to allow him to visit Arunachal Pradesh.
Beijing claims nearly 90,000 sq km of territory in Arunachal Pradesh in India as part of its own.
Modi, however, had no public contact or engagement with the Dalai Lama for six years after taking over as the prime minister of India, ostensibly to avoid hurting the sensitivity of China.