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 The barrage of angry and critical comments came after the
singer posted several photos of herself with the Dalai Lama on
Sunday at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in the U.S. city of
Indianapolis on her Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Lady Gaga, known for songs such as "Bad Romance" and "Born This
Way", chatted with the Dalai Lama on topics including generosity
to the poor and mental health, according to video of the event.
China considers the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet into exile in
India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, to
be a dangerous "splittist", or separatist. The Dalai Lama says
he only wants genuine autonomy for his remote homeland.
"There is a broad consensus internationally about what kind of
person the Dalai Lama is and what he does internationally,"
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a regular
briefing.
"After the relevant incident happened, if you look at comments
on the Chinese Internet, their anger has welled up," he added,
referring to Lady Gaga's meeting.
Lady Gaga has not remarked on the blowback from Chinese internet
users on her social media accounts. Reuters could not
immediately reach a representative for comment.
Lady Gaga is popular with many young Chinese but has never held
a concert in mainland China, though she has in the Chinese
territories of Hong Kong and Macau.
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"Lady Gaga, you're never coming back to China," wrote one user on
China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblog.
Other comments were less polite, using obscene language or cursing
the pop star.
Such meetings with the Dalai Lama often get foreign artists put on
blacklists in China.
The Ministry of Culture, which regulates the activities of foreign
artists in China, did not respond to calls for comment.
In 2008, Icelandic singer Bjork shouted "Tibet! Tibet!" at a
Shanghai concert after performing her song "Declare Independence",
angering the government and local fans alike.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Nick
Macfie)
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