Washington: Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, opened a visit to the United States to meet President Barack Obama, infuriating China as it tries to sideline the revered monk.
The Dalai Lama, who has tried to use foreign trips to throw a spotlight on China's treatment of his homeland, flew into Washington on Wednesday and headed to a hotel to greet fellow Tibetans for their Losar new year.
The 74-year-old will head on Thursday to the White House for a long-awaited meeting with Obama. Describing the encounter as private, the White House said Obama will receive him in the Map Room -- not the more official Oval Office.
Beijing has opposed any meeting with the Dalai Lama, demanding that the United States reverse its "wrong decision" to "avoid any more damage to Sino-US relations”.
The Obama administration not only refused to call off the meeting, but announced that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would also see the Dalai Lama today at the State Department.
"The Dalai Lama is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, internationally revered religious and cultural leader and the secretary will meet him in this capacity as recent secretaries of state have done," her spokesman Mark Toner said.
He acknowledged that China was upset by the Dalai Lama's trip but said that the United States supported a cooperative relationship with the rising Asian power.
Fireworks in homeland
Tibetans living near the birthplace of the Dalai Lama in northwest China welcomed Thursday's scheduled meeting between their exiled spiritual leader and Barack Obama with a defiant show of fireworks.
Buddhist monks in Tongren, an overwhelmingly ethnic Tibetan part of northwestern Qinghai province, said they were celebrating the meeting in Washington, which is going ahead despite warnings from Beijing that Obama's act will hurt Sino-US ties.
Tensions with Washington have already risen over issues ranging from trade and currencies to a US plan to sell USD 6.4 billion of weapons to self-ruled Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province.
The midnight display of fireworks along a valley dotted with Tibetan Buddhist monasteries was a bold and noisy reminder that, in spite of Chinese condemnation of the Dalai Lama, he remains a potent figure in his homeland, and his meeting with Obama will be noticed here by both supporters and opponents.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, February 18, 2010, 09:29