‘Nations mustn’t yield to China pressure’

Countries should not succumb to China’s pressure while deciding on possible visits by Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, said a senior diplomat this week. Speaking to The Hindu, Austrian envoy Brigitte Oeppinger-Walchshofer said the Dalai Lama was “most welcome” in her country, and maintained that the EU had a positive policy towards the octogenarian Tibetan monk.

“The Dalai Lama is always welcome in Austria. I don’t think there is a single country in the European Union where he would not be allowed in. The Tibetan spiritual leader is a very revered man and people are fascinated by him in the way that they are with Mahatma Gandhi. Countries do not have to succumb to such pressures [from China]. We don’t have a problem with him visiting us and China knows our position on this issue,” said Ms. Brigitte Oeppinger.

The Austrian Ambassador who served a long stint in South Africa before coming to India earlier this month indicated how in the past certain countries in Africa had denied permission to the Tibetan spiritual leader in moves that created major controversy inside the African civil society.

“I remember once South Africa took such a decision [barred the entry] and it triggered a big discussion as many people were very unhappy with this move,” said the envoy who interacted with the late Nelson Mandela and Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu during her South Africa stint. In a symbolic gesture, to highlight her commitment to non-violence, she paid floral tributes at the Gandhi Samadhi at the Raj Ghat, immediately after presenting her credentials to President Ramnath Kovind last week.

The envoy’s comments came in the backdrop of Doklam standoff and the recent move of Botswana in southern Africa to stop the entry of the Tibetan monk. Ms. Brigitte Oeppinger said non-violence propagated by the Dalai Lama, Mandela and Gandhi showed the way forward for the world.