German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she plans another meeting with the Dalai Lama, despite strong protest from Beijing against her reception of the Tibetan leader last fall, according to excerpts of a newspaper interview released Saturday.
Merkel was quoted as telling the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper for its Sunday editions that while she will be in Latin America during the Tibetan leader's upcoming visit to Germany in May, she will "surely meet again with the Dalai Lama at a later time."
China harshly criticized Merkel for receiving the Dalai Lama at the chancellory in September. Beijing broke off several meetings with German diplomats in an apparent sign of Chinese anger and more normal relations were restored only after several months of behind-the-scenes diplomacy.
Nevertheless, Merkel has stood by her decision to become the first German leader to receive the Dalai Lama, defending the visit as that of a foreign religious leader.
China routinely criticizes visits abroad by the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 during a failed uprising against Chinese rule, and has blamed him for the outbreak of violence during recent pro-independence protests in Tibet.
Asked by the paper if she thought a boycott of the Beijing Olympics would help the situation in Tibet, Merkel said simply, "No."
The chancellor referred to Western nations' decision to stay away from the 1980 games in Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but noted that had little impact.
"The boycott of the 1980 Olympics did nothing other than lead to a counter-boycott of the 1984 Games," Merkel was quoted as saying.
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