You may have heard stories about China opposing America on the Dalai Lama issue. These stories have developed as a result of varied perspectives that both these countries hold about the spiritual leader, Dalai Lama. To understand why China opposes Dalai Lama, it is important to analyze their viewpoint on him. While Americans consider Dalai Lama as a religious leader who is in favor of religious freedom in the world, China does not agree with this perspective. China actually finds this individual as a threat to their nation and civilization.
China is against this view that their nation needs to gain religious freedom. In fact, they think that their nation already has religious freedom according to its constitutional norms. There are people from every religion living peacefully in China and the most of these people are Taoists and Tibetan Buddhists. Still, the country hates Dalai Lama because of various political reasons. China does not talk against Buddhism in Tibet, but hates Tibet’s separatism. As Dalai Lama had been talking about the autonomy of Tibet for a long time, China started hating him. China does not like him campaigning for this idea.
China considers that Tibet is already designated as autonomous by their nation. Thus, it is also against the ideas of America where such campaigns receive good media coverage. China has a controlling perspective on Tibet, as it considers Tibet as its integral part. When Dalai Lama supports rebellious Tibetan separatists, China simply hates his actions. China does not view Dalai Lama as a preacher of peace, but thinks of him as a politician having the intentions of separatism. China wants to maintain its integrity at any cost. That is the reason they hate it more when America invites Dalai Lama to meet their political leaders. This favorable attitude of America seems totally absurd to China.