Chinese official says courting Dalai Lama would hurt US interests: Daily

Beijing, Feb 4 (IANS) The US should stop using the Dalai Lama to create trouble for China, which brings no benefit to it but damages Sino-US relations, a senior Chinese official in charge of Tibet affairs told a leading daily here.

The comments by Zhu Weiqun, head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the top advisory body to China's Parliament, came on Friday, following reports of newly-appointed US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson saying that the US would continue to encourage dialogue between Beijing and the "Tibetan government-in-exile," the state-run Global Times reported.

In response to recent written questions from the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Tillerson gave an affirmative answer when asked if he would commit to receiving and meeting the Dalai Lama, according to the report.

"It's impossible for the Chinese government to 'have a dialogue' with the illegal group that is aiming to split China, and Tillerson's remarks shows he is a complete amateur on Tibet-related questions" Zhu told the Global Times.

"The one and only sensible thing the 'government-in-exile' can do is to dissolve itself. China will not change its policy to support the development of the Tibetan society, nor will the country stop protecting its sovereignty over the region," said Zhu.

He also added that the new US government should carefully study the policy and that its "attention" to the Tibet question will only bring endless trouble and burden for America, according to the report.

Zhu further pointed out that the US government has used the Dalai Lama to create problems for China's unity and stability, which has brought no benefit to the US while caused damage to Sino-US relations.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)