Rome, Italy, Nov 2, 2007 / 08:55 am
A planned Vatican meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and the Dalai Lama would be an "offense" to the Chinese people, a government spokesman said Thursday in Beijing.
The Pope will reportedly meet with the head of Tibetan Buddhism on December 13 according to reports by ANSA, though officials at the Holy See have not yet officially confirmed the meeting.
China hopes that the meeting will not take place because it would be offensive to the Chinese nation, government spokesman Liu Jianchao said.
Beijing sees the Dalai Lama as a "political plotter" who plans to split the country. The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since 1959, when he fled Tibet following a revolt against Chinese rule. Approximately six million Tibetans now live under Chinese authority.