China defends territorial claims after US reiterates backing for Tibetan aspirations

China on Thursday (July 9) urged the United States to honour its commitment to recognising Tibet as part of China after a Tibetan man set himself on fire near the United Nations headquarters last week. Activists and a media outlet of exiled Tibetans identified the man as Lobga Rangzen. Voice of Tibet said he "self-immolated outside the U.N. headquarters in New York after a live appeal for Tibetan independence and unity". The incident prompted the U.S. State Department on Wednesday (July 8) to say that it will continue to call on China to return to dialogue with the Dalai Lama. China's foreign ministry spokes person said "Tibet-related affairs are purely China’s internal affairs, and no foreign country has the right to interfere". China seized control of Tibet in 1950 in what it describes as a "peaceful liberation" from feudalistic serfdom. It regards the Dalai Lama, who is the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhists and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, as a separatist and says Beijing must approve his successor, citing a centuries-old ritual.

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