Czech President Petr Pavel personally congratulated the Dalai Lama on his 90th birthday this weekend, visiting him in India on a private trip after his visit to Japan, Pavel’s spokesman Filip Platos told CTK.
Pavel was in Japan on a working trip from Tuesday, during which he met Emperor Naruhito.
“After the end of the programme in Japan, President Pavel went on a purely private trip, on which he was not accompanied by anyone from the Czech Presidential Office,” Platos said.
“The Dalai Lama had a significant life anniversary this month and invited President Pavel to the celebration,” added Platos. “On return from a working visit to Japan, the President took the opportunity to detach himself from the delegation to personally congratulate the Dalai Lama,” Platos added.
The Chinese Embassy in the Czech Republic condemned Pavel’s meeting with the Dalai Lama, who it accuses of anti-Chinese separatist activities. In a statement to CTK yesterday, the embassy expressed strong concern and disapproval of the meeting, and called on the Czech Republic to abide by the so-called “One China” political commitment.
In India, Pavel was accompanied by Czech Ambassador to India Eliska Zigova.
“It is standard practice for the embassy to be informed about private visits of the President and to accompany him in order to ensure his security,” Czech Foreign Ministry spokesman Daniel Drake told CTK.
“The Chinese side expresses its strong concern and strong disapproval that President Pavel ignored the serious position of the Chinese side and the overall situation of Chinese-Czech relations and insisted on meeting the 14th Dalai Lama in India,” said the statement from the Chinese Embassy.
Describing the Dalai Lama as a political exile who carries out anti-Chinese separatist activities under the guise of religion, the statement said that Tibet has been part of Chinese territory since ancient times. It said China urges the Czech Republic to adhere to the One China political commitment, and stop sending any supportive signals to “separatist forces seeking Tibet’s independence.”
The Dalai Lama was a personal friend of former President Vaclav Havel. At Havel’s invitation, he came to Czechoslovakia for the first time on 2 February 1990. The visit drew criticism from China at the time. He has since visited the Czech Republic several times, most recently in 2016 to attend the Forum 2000 conference in Prague.
The Dalai Lama, whose civil name is Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, was born on 6 July 1935 in Taktser, Tibet, into a peasant family. At the age of two, he was identified as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. Since the failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule and flight from Tibet, the Dalai Lama has lived in Dharamshala, India, in the foothills of the Himalayas, where the Tibetan government-in-exile is also based. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
China does not recognise the Tibetan government-in-exile and accuses the Dalai Lama of separatist efforts. The Dalai Lama rejects the accusation of separatism and stresses that he is pushing for greater autonomy for Tibet and the protection of Tibetan Buddhist culture.
