Agency.New Delhi.In a move to defy China, Indian government representatives are all set to meet Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama when he visits a sensitive border region controlled by India but claimed by China,officials said,despite a warning from China that it would damage ties between the two neighbours.
India says that as a secular democracy it would not stop him from travelling to any part of the country.Tibetan spiritual leader will make a religious trip to Arunachal Pradesh next month.
MoS Home Kiren Rijiju,who is from Arunachal and is Prime Minister Modi’s point man on Tibetan issues,said he would meet the Dalai Lama,who is visiting the Buddhist Tawang monastery after a gap of eight-years.
China lays claim to the state of Arunachal in a border dispute with India and calls it “South Tibet.” China regard Dalai Lama as separatist and has denounced foreign and even Indian leaders’ visits to the region as attempts to bolster New Delhi’s territorial claims.