China denounces Dalai Lama ‘sympathy’ for ISIS

A Chinese official has denounced the Dalai Lama for calling for dialogue with Islamic State militants, saying that it (ISIS) exposed the Tibetan spiritual leader’s “sympathy” for the group, state media said on Wednesday.

The Italian newspaper La Stampa quoted the Dalai Lama on Monday as saying that dialogue with Islamic State, which has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, was vital to ensuring peace.

“By saying, ‘listen, understand and respect’ them, it exposes, in his very bones, his sympathy or endorsement for IS,” China’s state-run Global Times newspaper quoted Zhu Weiqun, chairman of the ethnic and religious affairs committee of the top advisory body to China’s Parliament, as saying. Mr Zhu said the fundamental reason for the Dalai Lama’s sympathy was due to the fact that “he has never given up violence in his political way of life”. The Dalai Lama was not immediately available for comment. His secretary, Tenzin Taklha, did not answer a call to his mobile phone.

Beijing denounces the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule of Tibet, as a dangerous “splittist”, or separatist, a charge he denies. China is home to a large Muslim population.