Exiled Tibetans condemn alleged Epstein-Dalai Lama link as Chinese propaganda

Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh) [India], February 10 (ANI): The Tibetans in-exile in the north Indian hill town of Dharamsala have condemned the claims linking the Dalai Lama and Jeffrey Epstein.
The office of the Dalai Lama has already denied these claims by saying that the Dalai Lama has never met Jeffrey Epstein.
The exiled Tibetan community expressed sadness over the false allegations and said that it is a Chinese propaganda to defame the spiritual leader after the Grammy win.
Youdon Aukatsang, a member of the Tibetan parliament in exile, told ANI, "I am really disheartened and sad and very unsettled to see people are making this false allegation against his Holiness. There is nothing that links in with Jeffrey Epstein at all. I think people are just making it up to be something that it is not and I think those who are involved must apologise. I think it's really a handiwork of pro-Chinese propaganda, whether they are Russians or Chinese or whoever is working in collusion with China to defame His Holiness. This is their agenda. Just recently we read the good news that his Holiness is getting the Grammy award and soon after that they are using this kind of opportunity of some mention of some email by some acquaintance of Jeffrey Epstein to kind of link his Holiness. I think this is very sad. There are only references and no evidence is there. They should show the evidence. And we are 101 per cent sure that this is totally false and baseless allegation."
Tenzin Lobsang, general secretary of Tibetan Youth Congress, told ANI, "We have gone through the whole file and that has mentioned 169 times but the reality that His Holiness, the Dalai Lama has nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein and also the private office of his holiness has given a statement that they have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein."
"It's quite visible that this information campaign is from the Chinese side. The moment the Dalai Lama receives the Grammy award and the first information spreads from the Russian state agency, it mentions the name of the Dalai Lama 169 times and tries to establish a link with Jeffrey Epstein. And then that's also used by the CTJN, the Chinese state media and then deliberately used by some individuals and it has been widely spread out. We definitely condemn this report as it is clearly visible that this is a disinformation campaign from the Chinese side."
"Some individuals have used the name of the Dalai Lama but there is no evidence and no link. They used his Holiness' name in their resume to reach out to Jeffrey Epstein for some sort of financial aid."
"We don't know what their intention was but they used his Holiness as a reference as a backup or as an image-building; they used it," Lobsang added.
The Dalai Lama's office on Sunday dismissed reports circulating on social media that attempted to link the Tibetan spiritual leader with late financier and convicted sex offender from the United States, Jeffrey Epstein.
"We can unequivocally confirm that His Holiness has never met Jeffrey Epstein or authorised any meeting or interaction with him by anyone on His Holiness's behalf," said a press statement by the Dalai Lama's office in Dharamshala.
A press statement was released stating that His Holiness has never met Jeffrey Epstein nor approved any meeting or interaction with him.
In a post on X, the Dalai Lama's office shared a statement that read, "Some recent media reports and social media posts concerning 'Epstein files' are attempting to link His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Jeffrey Epstein." (ANI)