Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will visit United States President-elect Donald Trump after his inauguration, he told reporters on Wednesday.
Talking at the conclusion of a four-day visit to Mongolia, the Dalai Lama said he looked forward to meeting Trump, adding he wasn’t worried about harsh rhetoric used during the campaign.
“Sometimes I feel during the election, the candidate has more freedom to express,” he said, adding that once in power all Presidents were forced to work with “reality.”
“So I have no worries,” he said.
Speaking to reporters in Ulaanbaatar, the Dalai Lama said he considered the United States a leading nation in the “free world.”
Rumpled feathers
A potential meeting with Trump is likely to anger the Chinese government which has previously expressed its disapproval about the Dalai Lama’s meetings with world leaders.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Wednesday that the Dalai Lama “has been engaging in anti-China separatist activities overseas for a long time.”
“We hope the international community can … appropriately and discreetly handle Tibet-related issues,” Geng said.
Outgoing US President Barack Obama met with the spiritual leader four times during his presidency.
Beijing considers the Dalai Lama part of a Tibetan separatist movement.
In September, the Dalai Lama infamously impersonated Trump in a video shared widely, in which he mimicked his hair style and mannerisms.
