"CCTV is always saying this and that about him and about us Tibetans. The world will get a better idea about who he is once he meets Obama," said monk Tarkey.

Indeed- tomorrow President Obama will meet with the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists. In honor of this, some monks in Tongren near where the Dalai Lama was born set off fireworks. This is absurdly frowned upon. Along with selling missiles to Taiwan, which Obama and the White House are set on doing as well. Essentially, they are recognizing the independence and political sovereignty of two places China considers part of China. Needless to say, China is upset. I can understand it, too. Obama is directly telling them to go take a hike when it comes to domestic relations with what they consider problem provinces. It would be like the Chinese government going to meet with two U.S. states that wanted to secede. And then turn around and act like everything is ok. That said, I’m psyched that Obama is meeting with the Dalai Lama. And it sounds like monks and people in Tibet are, too.

"My heart is filled with joy. It is so important for us that this is happening, that the U.S. has not given in to threats and will meet our leader," said monk Johkang.

"I'm very excited about who the Dalai Lama is going to meet. But I worry about what measures the government could take against us in retaliation," Reuters quoted one Tibetan woman, who declined to be identified citing the sensitive nature of the topic. 

It will be a meeting between two Nobel prize winners. "That the 1.3 billion Han Chinese have never had one of their number win a Nobel prize and that we have, with just 6 million people, says something powerful. Now you understand why we love him so much," said a monk, Tedan.

There is a lot of love for the Dalai Lama in Tibet. And, apparently, Obama has a lot of love for him as well. For all the political wrangling and compromise that Obama is doing in Washington, this is a move that doesn’t make political sense- why is he meeting with the Dalai Lama- a man with little political power, an exile after a failed independence revolution almost 50 years ago, and one of the most hated enemies of China, whose power and influence in U.S. politics only grows and grows.

The answer is: It’s a tradition. Presidents have been meeting with the Dalai Lama since 1990 or so. And, according to an NPR interview, there is a bit of a scripted exchange between the two countries. In the U.S., not meeting with the Dalai Lama would entail a lot of domestic flak. Then, China needs to criticize it or they would take a lot of domestic flak. Either would be happy if either one didn’t do their part, but it won’t really cause much of a ripple.

Interesting. Still, the meeting is meaningful, if only to say that President Obama still thinks of the U.S. as strong enough and independent enough to brush off the objections of the Chinese government.

Photo Credit: Fernemillen (via Flickr under CCL)