China objects Grammy to Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama has won his first Grammy Award, an honour that quickly reverberated beyond the music industry, drawing a pointed backlash from China.
At the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, the 90-year-old Nobel laureate was recognised in the Best Audio Book, Narration and Storytelling Recording category for Meditations. The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a spoken-word album centred on peace, compassion and universal human values.Beijing reacted swiftly, criticising the award and warning against what it described as the misuse of international recognition to advance “anti-China activities.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian addressed the issue during a media briefing, reiterating the Chinese Government’s long-held position on the Tibetan leader.
“The Dalai Lama is not purely a religious person,” Lin said, calling him “a political exile committed to anti-Chinese separatist activities under the disguise of religion.” China, he added, “firmly opposes relevant sides using the award as a tool to carry out anti-China activities.”
The Grammy-winning album features the Dalai Lama’s reflections on mindfulness, compassion, inner peace and humanity’s shared responsibility for one another, accompanied by music and narration. Meditations was shortlisted alongside works by comedian Trevor Noah and US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The episode once again underscores how even cultural accolades can become flashpoints in the long-running and deeply sensitive dispute between China and the Tibetan spiritual leader-highlighting the enduring global resonance of a figure Beijing continues to view through a strictly political lens.
