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Could it be that Tibet is about 1/5th of China's total land area that was stolen during the "Cultural revolution"? Could it be that China fears a strong Tibetan presence with the USA? Could it be that the Dali Lama is as much a political leader as a spiritual one who commands respect and the minds of hundreds of thousands of people? Could it be that the Chinese are just frikken paranoid about anyone that doesn't conform to their communist utopia?
As far as the Chinese are concerned Tibet does not exist. Tibet is part of China. So when the US pays political attention to Tibet, they feel that we are dissing China as a whole... sort of the balancing act that we have with Taiwan.
Frankly, IMO the Chinese do not dictate policy to the USA, so they should just get over it and move on. Giving the Lama the CONGRESSIONAL gold medal (note: not the BUSH Gold medal) does not change this countries dependence on Chinese trade goods. They only make themselves look stupid by objecting. If they just shut up about it and made no hubub, the fickle world public will have forgotten the whole thing in 72 hours anyway.
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