India defies China, will host Dalai Lama in Arunachal
March 03, 2017  16:06
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The Union government representatives will meet the Dalai Lama when he visits Arunachal Pradesh in April, officials said, despite a warning from China that it would damage bilateral ties.

India said the Tibetan spiritual leader will make a religious trip to Arunachal Pradesh next month, and as a secular democracy it would not stop him from travelling to any part of the country.

A trip by the Dalai Lama, whom the Chinese regard as a dangerous separatist, would ratchet up tensions at a time when India is at odds with China on strategic and security issues amid Beijing's growing ties with Pakistan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration is raising its public engagement with the Tibetan leader, a change from earlier governments' reluctance to anger Beijing by sharing a public platform with him.

"It's a behavioural change you are seeing. India is more assertive," Kiren Rijiju, Union minister of state for home affairs, told Reuters in an interview.

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