Ming Pao Daily reported on February 20, 2010, that the high-profile protest made by China against the U.S. President Barack Obama’s meeting with Dalai Lama will not affect Sino-US cooperation.

Radical messages such as resisting U.S. goods and reducing China’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries have appeared on Mainland China’s websites. Some scholars claimed that China would not rule out “bigger moves” in retaliation. However, according to AP, one expert, professor Jin Cairong of Renmin University in Beijing, believes that the Sino-US bilateral ties are more important than the Tibetan issue. With the approaching date of Hu Jintao’s visit to the U.S. this year and the new round of Sino-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, China and the U.S. need to cooperate more.

Source: Ming Pao Daily, January 20, 2010
http://www.mingpaotor.com/htm/News/20100220/tcab1.htm

A reporter from China News agency in Washington DC interviewed 3 American Chinese experts regarding U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s meetings with the Dalai Lama. According to China News Net on February 19, 2010, all of the 3 China experts thought that the meetings would not affect Sina-US relations in general.

Shen Jiyao, a retired professor from the University of Washington DC, pointed out that the fact that Obama kept the meeting closed from the media showed the United States’ intention to reduce the impact of this meeting on the bilateral relations. Xue Haipei, President Obama’s former campaign consultant, said that the meetings will not shake the fundamentals of Sino-US relations. Zhu Zhiqun, a professor of Bucknell University, does not think the meetings will mortally damage Sino-US relations.

Source: China News Net, February 19, 2010
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2010/02-19/2125944.shtml

State media have extensively reported overseas Chinese opposition to Obama’s February 18 meeting with the Dalai Lama. Xinhua, People’s Daily and China News Service reported that leaders in the overseas Chinese communities protested, via media interviews, forums, rallies and letters, against Obama, in unison with the China’s official stance on the Dalai Lama meeting. Such actions as reported (in answering the call of the Communist Party to stay with the Party line) have raised concerns that they may further widen the gap between Chinese communities and the mainstream in their respective countries, aggravating an image crisis.

Source: Boxun, February 20, 2010
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/intl/2010/02/201002200128.shtml

Obama’s reforms did not change his Feb 18 meeting with Dalai Lama, a Xinua article commented. Since President Bush’s first meeting with the Dalai Lama in 1991, three U.S. presidents had met with the Dalai Lama eleven times before the February 18 meeting. Why hasn’t Obama reformed this practice, asked the article. “It is based on the U.S. cold war mentality and one of the many cards in the pursuit of the US strategic interests.” The article states that it is high time for the U.S. to adopt a new way of thinking in handling the bilateral relationship.

Source: Xinhua, February 19, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2010-02/19/content_13005223.htm