Dalai Lama's meet with President a non-political event: India to China

New Delhi: India on Friday dismissed Chinese objection to a meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Pranab Mukherjee recently, saying he was a revered spiritual leader and it was a non-political event.

"India has a consistent position. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a respected and revered spiritual leader. It was a non-political event organised by Nobel laureates dedicated to the welfare of children," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

He was asked about China taking strong exception to the Tibetan spiritual leader's meeting with Mukherjee at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan during a children's summit and asserting that India must respect China's "core interests" to avoid "any disturbance" to the bilateral ties.

"Recently in disregard of China's solemn representation and strong opposition, the Indian side insisted on arranging for the 14th Dalai Lama's visit to the Indian Presidential palace where he took part in an event and met President Mukherjee," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang told a media briefing in Beijing on Friday.

"The Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to that," he said, replying to a question on the Dalai Lama's presence in the opening session of the

'Laureates and Leaders for Children Summit', organised by Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi's Children's Foundation on December 10.