The frosty relationship of Germany with China has put the former in a fix because of Dalai Lama’s recent five-day visit to the country. The Tibetan Buddhist leader is highly popular among the denizens and his latest visit to Berlin reflected the indecisiveness of the German government over how to deal with the issue. When the Tibetan spiritual leader came onstage in Berlin, the audience of about 25,000 broke into cheers and applause.

 

Dalai Lama’s visit to the city of Berlin marked the closing of a five-day tour of Germany. The visit of the Dalai Lama has happened eight months after he met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during his previous visit. The incident of the chancellor receiving Dalai Lama in her Berlin office had led to the souring of relationship between Germany and China. It is only recently that the relationship between the two countries began to get better.

 

The German coalition government had differed over how the Tibet issue needs to be tackled after the official meeting between chancellor, Angela Merkel and Dalai Lama happened. The recent visit of the Tibetan spiritual leader to the country conversely indicates how disunited Germany still is when it comes to taking a stand on the China-Tibet issue.   

 

Germany's SPD Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had openly disapproved of Merkel meeting the Dalai Lama and even rejected meeting the spiritual leader during the recent tour. The German chancellor on the other hand is presently on a Latin America tour which has kept her from getting embroiled in controversy. China infact had asked Germany not to provide Dalai Lama a platform and got irked up upon knowing that German Development Minister Heide Wieczorek-Zeul had agreed to meet for an hour.