Blair and Cook to meet Dalai Lama in London


LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Robin Cook will meet Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in London in the next few days, officials said on Saturday. The meetings were expected to go ahead despite a western diplomatic crisis with China, outraged by the bombing of its Belgrade embassy by NATO late on Friday.

China condemns foreign governments' contacts with the Dalai Lama, seeing them as implying support for Tibet's independence movement.

Britain's Foreign Office emphasised the Dalai Lama would meet Blair and Cook in a spiritual rather than political capacity, with figures from the Church of England present as well.

The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 as Chinese troops crushed an uprising against Beijing's rule, has been seeking negotiations with China over greater autonomy for Tibet.

Blair was expected to see the Dalai Lama on Monday and Cook on Wednesday, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said. Cook said earlier on Saturday the embassy bombing was an accident which should not change relations with China.

The Dalai Lama arrived in London on Friday for his ninth visit to Britain. Besides meeting Cook and Blair, he is expected to speak on Tibetan Buddhism and launch a book.

Tibetan independence campaigners want Blair and Cook to talk to the Dalai Lama about his efforts to establish dialogue with Beijing, as U.S. President Bill Clinton did when he met the Dalai Lama at the White House last year.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the British government "has always regarded Tibet as autonomous, but we do recognise the special position that the Chinese authorities have there.

"We did not recognise Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, but neither did we recognise Tibet as being independent," she said.

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Last updated: 7-May-99