Dalai Lama consecrates monastery in India as China seethes
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GAUHATI, India — The Dalai Lama consecrated a Buddhist monastery on Thursday in India’s remote northeast, amid Chinese warnings that the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader’s visit to a disputed border region would damage bilateral relations with India.
Nearly 10,000 people, some of them from neighbouring Bhutan, greeted the Dalai Lama at the Thupsung Dhargyeling Monastery in Tawang district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, Indian official Jemba Tshering said.
The visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which China also claims as its territory, has raised tensions between the nuclear-armed Asian neighbours. China’s Foreign Ministry has said the visit “severely harms China’s interests and the China-India relationship,” while India has cautioned Beijing to stay out of its internal affairs.
China considers the 81-year-old monk, who fled to India in 1959 amid an uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, a separatist seeking Tibet’s independence. The Dalai Lama says he merely advocates substantial autonomy and protection of the region’s native Buddhist culture.
