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 White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 10/11/07 (President Bush Attending Dalai Lama's Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony) — Thursday, October 11, 2007 — MS. PERINO: Matt. Q Dana, China has complained bitterly about the plans for the Dalai Lama to receive the Congressional Gold Medal next week and, by extension, the President's plan to attend that ceremony. Can you respond to that? And is there any indication the President will meet face to face with the Dalai Lama? MS. PERINO: Well, I wouldn't rule that out, but I have nothing to announce for you in terms of a meeting with the Dalai Lama. If you'll recall, when we were in Australia at the APEC meeting, the President told President Hu that he would be attending the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony, and the President and Mrs. Bush look forward to attending it. The President will make brief remarks, and he will reiterate our view that the Dalai Lama is a great spiritual leader. He leads a movement that is aimed not only for independence from China but for the rights of the Tibetan people.* And the President wants -- is going to -- let me see, I guess I can announce -- I just had it here -- I knew that there was a meeting in the works but I didn't know it had been confirmed. He will meet with the President on October 16th, the day before. Q At the White House? MS. PERINO: At the White House. Q Can I follow up on that? MS. PERINO: Sure. Q The President is concerned about relations with Turkey, and has opposed a resolution which is non-binding in one House of Congress, right, the genocide -- why is he not afraid of relations with China being damaged by actually meeting with the Dalai Lama in public for the first time ever on Wednesday? MS. PERINO: Well, the President has met with the Dalai Lama many times; we've released photographs of that so that we'd have a -- there is a public record of the President meeting with the Dalai Lama. He -- the President had a good conversation with President Hu when we were in Australia and told him that we would be welcoming the Dalai Lama to the United States, that the President would be going to the Capitol, as he does every year, for the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony. Q So you're saying it's no big deal that the President will actually be at a public event for the first time with the Dalai Lama? MS. PERINO: I think that the President -- first and foremost, he told President Hu that, back the first week of September of this year. This is not -- this should not come as news to the Chinese that the President is going to be attending. And this is a spiritual leader who is fighting for freedom and democracy, which the President is supporting as well. And what you're talking about yesterday is the President referring to something that had happened in 1915 with the Ottoman Empire, and the House of Representatives having many tasks in front of it, including passing appropriations bills, even appointing in the House side conferees to talk about how we're going to spend the American taxpayers' money. They could work on closing the -- permanently closing the intelligence gap by passing the FISA legislation. There's a lot of things that the House could be doing and the Senate could be doing, rather than passing resolutions, talking about historical actions in 1915. So he will go next week -- Q Is it not a big -- so you're saying that the Wednesday public ceremony is not a big deal? MS. PERINO: Well, we would hope that the Chinese leader would get to know the Dalai Lama as the President sees him, as a spiritual leader and someone who wants peace. And that's what the President will -- that's what the President urges in meetings. He understands that the Chinese have concerns about this. They were expressed to the President as well in Australia. He's well aware that there are different feelings about this. He believes that as a leader and as the President of the United States, and someone who always attends a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony, that he is going to go and he will proudly be there to witness the event. China | Congressional Gold Medal of Honor | Dalai Lama | Dana Perino Labels: China, Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, Dalai Lama, Dana Perino, President Bush, Press Briefing, Tibet, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 9:00:00 PM
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