In defense of Obama’s Dalai Lama ’snub’

The Washington Post reported this morning that the Obama administration is not going to meet with the Dalai Lama when he visits D.C. this week, the first time a Dalai Lama has come to Washington and not met with a president since 1991. There can be only one conclusion: We are kowtowing to the Chinese.

The Post gently teed up that implication. The subhed of the Post story is “Move Appears to Be A Nod to Chinese” and the very first words of the story are: “In an attempt to gain favor with China…” And commentators hit it out of the park. “Stiffed by Obama: Dalai Lama told to take a number,” wrote Ken Silverstein in Harper’s. “In nearly nine months in office, President Obama has found time to meet with Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega and Vladimir Putin. But this week he’ll have no time to see the Dalai Lama, a peaceful religious leader who has for decades been a friend to the United States…” opined the Wall Street Journal. “Good grief. You begin to wonder if the man has a list of Friendly Leaders I Still Need to Offend,” sniffed the Daily Telegraph. And, naturally, the word “appeasment” was used liberally.

The Dalai Lama, in less-snubbed days

A little context: no U.S. president before George H.W. Bush met with the Dalai Lama. That includes Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, who in their very different ways fancied themselves great defenders of human rights. In fact, until the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, the same year as the Tiananmen Square massacres, the roster of world leaders he met with was pretty thin. So it’s not as if it’s an immutable rule that a president has to meet with the Dalai Lama.

And the Dalai Lama appears to have taken the alleged snub well:

His Holiness will not be meeting with President Obama on this visit. From the outset, there has been no question of President Obama not at the appropriate time meeting His Holiness, whom he holds in great esteem. Taking a broader and long-term perspective, His Holiness agreed to meet the President after the November US-China Summit.

But you would expect nothing less from an Ocean of Wisdom.

I’m a big believer in the Golden Rule of international relations (“Do unto others…”) and it’s hard to imagine that someone who ran a shadow government purporting to rule a part of the U.S. – as the Dalai Lama does with respect to China – would be well received in Washington, and it’s easy to imagine us being annoyed at other world leaders meeting him. And although I don’t like the fact that China tries to bully other countries into not meeting with him, it’s also pretty easy to imagine the U.S. doing the same thing. (Add this to the list of the many ways in which China and the U.S. are really similar.) So let’s get over ourselves with the tut-tutting about “nodding” and “gaining favor.”

Expect another Golden Rule post the next time Obama goes to Russia and, in addition to meeting with the country’s political leaders, also meets with “civil society leaders,” aka opponents of the government. Do other countries come to the U.S. and feel they need to meet with Noam Chomsky? But another time…