By Michael J. Green
The greatest of the many ironies of President
Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize is that it was announced on the day he blew
off one of the most deserving winners of the prize in its history: His Holiness
the Dalai Lama of Tibet.
The Dalai Lama has met the president of the
United States on every one of his visits to Washington since 1991 -- until now. The White House decided it would be smarter to postpone the visit until
after President Obama's visit to China, after initially indicating to the
Tibetans that there would be a meeting with the president per usual. It
appears that the Chinese side implored the administration not to meet the Dalai
Lama this time because of the particular sensitivity of the Tibet issue at this juncture for President Hu Jintao.
Of course, the Chinese
demarched the Bush and Clinton White Houses and argued that it was a
"particularly bad time to see the Dalai Lama" every other time he
came to Washington as well. Unfortunately, the Chinese may now concluded
that the Tibet issue has fallen permanently on the back burner for the United
States. This is the Tibetans' understandable fear. President Obama
can correct that impression by pressing Beijing for concrete action on issues
of importance to Tibet -- like excessive Han migration into the region -- when he is
in Beijing. The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize was given in anticipation of great
things, and the president's November trip to China will be a good time to start
repaying the vote of confidence from Norway.
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