Canada's PM says Dalai Lama 'not a call girl'

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PM Harper met the Dalai Lama in late October in his Ottawa office. However, China calls the Dalai Lama a separatist and do not want heads of state in any country to meet him officially or confer any awards to him.

Harper was explaining his meeting with the Dalai Lama to OMNI television where he said:

"I met the Dalai Lama in my office but I meet everyone in my office. I don't know why I would sneak off to a hotel room just to meet the Dalai Lama. You know, he's not a call girl."

And then he quickly added:

"As I say, he's a respected international spiritual leader."

Harper was trying to imply others wanted him to meet the Dalai Lama in secrecy or privately in order to appease China, and he doesn’t want to do that just to please China.

China pressures other governments to avoid meeting the Dalai Lama in public. German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Dalai Lama in September, but only in a private setting and it wasn't an official meeting. And last month, the Vatican was pressured to call off a meeting with the Pope set for Dec. 13.

Harper didn’t want to do the same, so he made the above statements. However, it didn't quite come the way he wanted, and perhaps could have used a better analogy.

Harper's chief spokeswoman did not respond to questions asking if Harper regretted his choice of words in the interview.

As Reuters reports: "China condemned Harper for "disgusting conduct" in late October after he met the Dalai Lama in his parliamentary office with television cameras and photographers present."

The Dalai Lama was given honorary Canadian citizenship in June, so in my opinion Harper has every right to meet him in public. Also, it is not that they are discussing war plans against China, so China needs to lighten up.

In my opinion, if China really wants to solve this problem in the future, they should try to understand Tibetan concerns and not intimidate everyone.