Did Jean Chrétien misspeak on meeting the Dalai Lama?

A year ago, former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien was in Vancouver promoting his book, My Years as Prime Minister (Knopf Canada, $39.95).

When he spoke to Georgia Straight editor Charlie Smith, Chrétien touched on the fact he can appreciate China’s hostile attitude towards the Dalai Lama.

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising on March 10, we can expect more news coverage concerning the Dalai Lama.

When Smith interviewed Chrétien, he danced around a question regarding whether he had not met with the exiled spiritual leader.

"I had extremely good relations with China," Chretien said. "Today, apparently, it is not the same. You know, remember my speech in December a year ago at the [Liberal] convention, when I said I didn't have to wait at the door of the toilet to speak with the president of China? You know, they respected Canada.

"There are some problems in China," he continued. "I don't deny it. But I know that today in the press, the pope has not agreed to have a meeting with the Dalai Lama. Because the problem with the Dalai Lama--I respect him as a great religious leader, but for the chinese, he is a separatist leader. A guy like Chretien don't like separatists very much, whoever they are."

Then Chretien was asked if he met with the Dalai Lama or if he chose not to do this. "That was not a problem at my time," he replied. "There was no big demand for me to meet with him. I don't remember having to deal with it in a political way."

According to evidence from the Canada Tibet Committee’s national office, he liked the Dalai Lama enough to meet with him, despite what he told the Straight.

Was it a misspeak? How else to explain the photograph from 1990 that appears at the top of this story?