President Bush says he told Chinese leaders not to fear His Holiness the Dalai Lama[Friday, 12 November 2011, 1:18 p.m.]

His Holiness the Dalai Lama receives the US Congressional Gold Medal from President George W Bush in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington on 17 October 2007/AP Photo

Dharamshala:
In his new memoir “Decision Points” former US President George W Bush
has made references to Tibet and his meetings with His Holiness the
Dalai Lama.Mr Bush talked about a meeting with Chinese
president Hu Jintao to convey his plans to attend the US Congressional
Gold Medal ceremony in 2007. “At the 2007 APEC summit in Sydney, I told
President Hu that I planned to attend a ceremony where the Dalai Lama
would receive the Congressional Gold Medal. The Buddhist leader was a
source of distress for the Chinese government, which accused him of
stirring up separatists in Tibet.””I met with the Dalai Lama
five times during my presidency, and found him to be a charming,
peaceful man. I told China’s leaders they should not fear him,” Mr Bush
said.  “This is not meant as a slap at China,” he said, “but as
a measure of my respect for the Dalai Lama and for the US Congress. 
You know my strong belief in religious freedom.”“This is a
politically sensitive issue in China,” President Hu replied.  “…It
will draw a very strong reaction from the Chinese people.” What he
meant was that it would draw a strong reaction from the government,
which did not want me to be the first American president to appear with
the Dalai Lama in public.”