Pirate's Cove

Hey, you remember the Dalai Lama, right? He’s the guy who met with President Bush and on whom Congress bestowed a Congressional Gold Medal “for what American legislators say is his fight for democracy, freedom, and Tibet’s cultural heritage through a negotiated settlement with Beijing based on autonomy within the People’s Republic.” He offered up some criticism to Bush both before and after the meeting, speaking his mind, yet, Bush still met with him, and gave this speech while bestowing the medal. Many other Congressional leaders, including Nancy Pelosi, gave very nice speeches during the ceremony, as well. But, hey, that was then, now is the time of The One

In an attempt to gain favor with China, the United States pressured Tibetan representatives to postpone a meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Obama until after Obama’s summit with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, scheduled for next month, according to diplomats, government officials and other sources familiar with the talks.

For the first time since 1991, the Tibetan spiritual leader will visit Washington this week and not meet with the president. Since 1991, he has been here 10 times. Most times the meetings have been “drop-in” visits at the White House. The last time he was here, in 2007, however, George W. Bush became the first sitting president to meet with him publicly, at a ceremony at the Capitol in which he awarded the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’s highest civilian award.

Did I mention that he also was a Nobel Peace Prize recipient? One who actually deserved and earned it? And fights hard for human rights?

The U.S. decision to postpone the meeting appears to be part of a strategy to improve ties with China that also includes soft-pedaling criticism of China’s human rights and financial policies as well as backing efforts to elevate China’s position in international institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund. Obama administration officials have termed the new policy “strategic reassurance,” which entails the U.S. government taking steps to convince China that it is not out to contain the emerging Asian power.

Well, I suppose Obama has to do that, considering he has saddled America with tremendous debt which is held by China.

U.S. officials also said they are not pulling punches with the Chinese. They have, however, indicated that they want to try something new on Tibet, figuring that the old policy — of meeting with the Dalai Lama regularly and calling for substantive talks between China and his representatives — had achieved little. American officials told Tibetan representatives that “this president is not interested in symbolism or photo ops but in deliverables,” the Asian diplomat said. “He wants something to come out of his efforts over Tibet, rather than just checking a box.”

Yeah, that old policy of pushing for human rights.