Guess what! Tibetan spiritual head, Dalai Lama currently residing in Northern India has not been extended an invitation for the Olympics to be held in China later this year.
The reason for non-invitation is speculative. China fears he would steal Chinese President Hu Jintao’s thunder although it would act as an image building act.
“It’s supposed to be Hu Jintao’s Olympics, but it’ll become the Dalai Lama’s Olympics if he attends,” a source familiar with government policy said requesting anonymity.
Dalai Lama had fled to India in 1959 when China invaded Tibet. He has been under the care of the Indian government ever since.
Earlier this year, China had solely blamed the Dalai Lama and his followers for instigating unrest and attempting to sabotage the Olympics, charges he has repeatedly denied.
For China, the Games are supposed to showcase the prosperity and modernization of what is now the world’s fourth-biggest economy after three decades of economic reforms and rapid growth.
Ma Ying-jeou, the Harvard-educated, democratically elected president of self-ruled Taiwan has also been omitted from the list. Taiwan was claimed by Beijing as its own since their split in 1949 amidst civil war.
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