China's pressure on South Africa to deny Dalai Lama visa causes an global kerfulle

You think China would know better, wouldn't you? But it doesn't. It has to learn that less is better.
Yet when it comes to the Dalai Lama, the Communist party leadership go ballistic.
Had Beijing not twisted the weak arm of the Jacob Zuma government in Pretoria, so that the Tibetan spiritual leader would be denied a visa to his fellow Nobel Peace prize laureat, Archbishop Desmond Tutu's 80 birthday, the celebration might have turned out to simply blowing out candles, with a few songs, and a general joy of seeing the popular Tutu wished long life. The party would have not taken a political tinge, nor caused a scandal that it had become thanks to the CPP's heavy handedness.
Inside South Africa, Zuma's decision has received worldwide publicity, if not condemnation.
The Dalai Lama sent a message throw Skype[?] with hail thee good fellow greetings. More than that, the withholding of the RSA's visa, he took advantage of China's misstep by resoundingly denouncing the CCP.
The Tibetan spiritual leader's words brought the spotlight on scenes of self immolation of Tibetan monks and citizens protesting the harsh Chinese policy towards transforming Tibetans into model Han or ethnic Chinese servants.
Seemingly China doesn't give a tinker's damn, yet its strong armed means is not winning its friends. In fact, Chinese behaviour varies little from imperial policies of Europeans. China is not winning friends. In the longer run, it will make its investments in Africa more problemmatic.