EDITORIAL: PRINCIPLES THAT FIT THE POLICIES

The Dominion Post
Oct 23 2007
New Zealand

It is a rarity these days for United States President George W Bush
to receive praise for his foreign policy, but that is what he deserves
for his public embrace of the Dalai Lama, The Dominion Post writes.

His actions are in marked contrast to those of Prime Minister Helen
Clark, who decided earlier this year that a 10-minute meeting in a
Brisbane airport lounge meant there was no need to meet him in the
Beehive, and National Party leader John Key, who dropped in on a
meeting the exiled Tibetan leader was having with National foreign
affairs spokesman Murray McCully, rather than meet him separately.

For them, discretion – and a desire for a free trade deal with China –
overcame valour.

Mr Bush met the Dalai Lama in the White House, and presented the
Tibetan leader in exile with the Congressional Gold Medal, the top
civilian honour bestowed by the US Congress. He is the first sitting
US president to appear publicly with the Dalai Lama.

The Chinese reaction has been predictable, and in line with its
chagrin when German Chancellor Angela Merkel met the Dalai Lama last
month. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said the US violated the
norms of international relations and announced that China’s feelings
were "severely hurt" as a result. The head of Tibet’s communist party,
Zhang Qingli, was more vehement, telling reporters in Beijing "if
the Dalai Lama can receive such an award, there must be no justice
or good people in the world".

Those comments should be treated as the posturing they are. The Chinese
choose to regard the Dalai Lama as a splittist, determined to separate
Tibet from China. They do not believe him when he says he does not
seek independence for Tibet, but meaningful autonomy. Nor do they give
any credence to his life-long message of non-violence. That is their
right. China is a sovereign nation and can choose who it deals with,
however short-sighted its choices might be.

It is also the right of the leaders of other sovereign nations to take
a different view. China is a growing power, with ambitions to match its
economic heft with a comparable political clout on the world stage. To
do that, its leaders will need to realise that diplomacy is more than
simply waving a big stick at those you are trying to persuade.

That is the lesson the Chinese should draw from Mr Bush’s meetings
with the Dalai Lama.

At the same time it would be foolish to believe that Mr Bush has
embarked on a foreign policy dictated solely by principle. While he
was meeting the Tibetan leader, congressional leaders were backtracking
on plans to pass a resolution denouncing as genocide the mass killing
of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire last century.

The backtrack came after pressure from Mr Bush and the US military,
anxious not to antagonise Turkey as they seek to discourage its
plans to attack Kurdish insurgents in northern Iraq and to ensure
continued logistical support from Ankara for US forces in Iraq. Mr
Bush told Congress it had more important work to do than antagonising
a democratic ally in the Muslim world.

Principle, it seems, has its limits even for those who embrace the
Dalai Lama.