McCain, who lost to President Barack Obama in the last year's presidential elections, said this in an interview to CNN, wherein he was critical of the Obama Administration adopting a softer approach on human rights in China and not meeting the Dalai Lama, when he was here last month.
"I can't say it was a mistake. I have to give the President the benefit of the doubt," McCain told CNN in an interview when asked if Obama not meeting the Dalai Lama was a mistake.
"I would have met with the Dalai Lama. I would not have -- if I had been Secretary of State -- I don't think that the secretary of state should have said before she went on her first visit to China, that -- she said -- quote -- 'We're not going to talk about human rights'," McCain said.
"We should always talk about human rights. We also have to put them in a context where they may not be the most important issue, but they're always important. And they should never be removed from our lexicon," he said.
Obama leaves on a four-nation trip to Asia later this week, during which he would travel to China to hold talks with its top leadership.
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by seadharma on 2009-11-13 00:00:00
As an American and a Buddhist, I appreciate Obama's actions as pragmatic rather than spineless. Though I do wish Obama would show more spine in some areas, the Tibet cause would only be worth damaging our relationship with China for if we could actually do something about it. We simply can't. Really, both Beijing and Dharamsala have been quit active in using the Dalai Lama as a political tool. Is it really any better for Buddhists to use him directly in this way? Beijing just talks. The Dalai Lama claims to travel for spiritual (not political) reasons one week, and travels to Japan and criticizes China the next. He just talks. Is he really doing Buddhism or Tibetans any good aside from rousing media hype? Given that said media hype causes Beijing to dig in its heels, is that even doing any real good?
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by Swami Chaitanya Keerti on 2009-11-12 00:00:00
Obama is very popular and very powerful leader , but I am surprised that he became spineless in front of China. He may have done something politically correct, but I do not hold him so high in esteem as before because of not standing with Dalai Lama. Nobel prize committee has been in hurry to select him for Nobel prize.
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