President Bush calls Dalai Lama

United States Department of State
From the transcript of the Daily Press Briefing
Robert Wood, Deputy Spokesman
Washington, DC
September 23, 2008

QUESTION: What could you tell us about President Bush making a call to the Dalai Lama this morning?

MR. WOOD: Yeah. My understanding is that the President called the Dalai Lama to inquire about his health. As you probably know, the Dalai Lama recently canceled a couple of overseas trips. I believe he’s been suffering from exhaustion. So the President just wanted to, you know, see how he was doing. But for further details, I’d refer you to the White House.

QUESTION: So what’s your reaction to the release of prisoners in Burma? Apparently, even the longest held prisoner was released today.

MR. WOOD: Yeah. We’ve heard that the Burmese regime has released -- I believe it’s 9,000 prisoners. I don’t have the actual number of political prisoners that are part of that, although I understand that 76-year-old Win Tin, a journalist who’s been a political prisoner for, I think, almost 20 years, was released. And that’s long overdue, but a very positive development. So we continue to call on the Burmese regime to release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi and to move the country down the path toward democracy. It’s something we’ve been calling on for quite some time.

Related:
• Read the entire transcript
• View Video
• AFP article