Meeting of the Dalai Lama with President Obama

Interview with Prof. Dr. Eberhard Sandschneider
18.02.2010 | ARTE | Deutschlandradio | SWR

The dispute over the US visit of the Dalai Lama shows the relatively high willingness of both the USA and China to engage in conflict, said Prof. Dr. Eberhard Sandschneider, Otto Wolff-Director of the DGAP Research Institute, in interviews with the television channel ARTE and the radio channels Deutschlandradio and SWR. On the one hand, the US government is willing to offend China by inviting the Dalai Lama. On the other hand, China does not hesitate to provoke the United States by threatening to imposing sanctions on US companies. However, Sandschneider stressed as well that both countries are aware of their interdependency and share many interests. Furthermore, the Chinese government recognized that Obama was under domestic pressure to welcome the Dalai Lama. How much damage the meeting has caused will be visible in China’s future willingness to cooperate with the United States on important international matters.

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