Some overseas Chinese criticized U.S. President Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama in Washington on Thursday, and pointed out the real intention of the Dalai Lama's hobnobbing with the West.

Du Ping, a Singaporean expert on international relations, told Xinhua that the Dalai Lama has made a point of meeting Western political leaders. His real intention is to keep the so-called "Tibetan issue" in the news, raise funds and seek bigger space for maneuvering.

He noted that without the support from the West, the Dalai Lama's personal influence will be greatly weakened. That's why he has always assumed importance by flaunting his connections with Western politicians, and made troubles to sour China's relations with Western countries from time to time, said Du.

The expert also pointed out that the meetings between successive U.S. presidents and the Dalai Lama lack international moral basis and common sense.

In essence, he said, the Western countries are treating the Dalai Lama as a pawn on the chessboard. They are merely using each other.

However, Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama will not bring major change to the overall picture of Sino-U.S. relations, Du added.

The sound development of their bilateral relations is in the interests of both China and the United States and the rest of the world.

In an open letter to the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, representatives of more than 20 ethnic Chinese organizations in Spain said the Dalai Lama has never ceased his activities to split China since he fled abroad in 1959.

The letter condemned the Dalai Lama's attempt to "internationalize" the so-called "Tibet issue," and his attempt to split China by having foreign forces put pressure on the Chinese government.

The letter urged people in Western countries not to be misled by the "smiling face" of the Dalai Lama and fail to see through his real motive of splitting China and re-establishing the serfdom system and theocracy in Tibet.

The Sino-U.S. relationship is one of the most important bilateral ties in the world and the friendly relations between the two nations will benefit not only the two peoples but the whole world as well, it added.

(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2010)