WASHINGTON, July 16: US President Barack Obama on Saturday received Tibet´s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama for talks choreographed to be as low-key as possible, defying strident warnings from China.
An aide to the Dalai Lama said that the two Nobel Peace Prize winners began talking in the Map Room, part of the White House´s residence and away from the Oval Office where presidents traditionally meet world leaders.[break]
The White House did not allow reporters to witness the meeting and did not announce it until hours before the Dalai Lama was due to leave Washington, where he has spent 11 days leading thousands in a Buddhist meditation ritual.
Despite the precautions, the meeting underscores US support for the Dalai Lama who fled his Chinese-ruled homeland in 1959 for India. Beijing has sought to isolate the Dalai Lama on the world stage, aghast at his global popularity.
"This meeting underscores the president´s strong support for the preservation of Tibet´s unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity and the protection of human rights for Tibetans," the White House said in a statement.
"The president will highlight his enduring support for dialogue between the Dalai Lama´s representatives and the Chinese government to resolve differences," it said.
China has held nine rounds of talks with the Dalai Lama´s envoys, the last in January 2010. But the dialogue has yielded no tangible progress, leading many Tibetans to believe Beijing is trying to wait out the 76-year-old monk´s death in hopes that his calls for greater rights will wither away without him.
China had warned the United States not to receive the Dalai Lama and lodged an official protest after the meeting was announced, warning that Obama "could harm US-Chinese relations" if he went ahead.
"We are firmly opposed to any foreign politician meeting the Dalai Lama in any form whatsoever," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.
China accuses the Dalai Lama of being a "splittist" bent on dividing China. The Dalai Lama is a declared pacifist who says he accepts China´s rule and is working for greater rights for Tibetans.
The meeting is Obama´s second in office with the Dalai Lama; his first, in February 2010, was also closed press in the Map Room. Previous president George W. Bush met the Dalai Lama openly to award him a Congressional Gold Medal.
The Obama administration has sought stable relations with China, a growing military and economic power and major holder of US debt. In January, China rolled out the red carpet for President Hu Jintao on a state visit.
But Obama has faced persistent criticism at home for not highlighting human rights. His administration´s long silence on whether he would meet the Dalai Lama led several lawmakers to conclude that he rejected a meeting.
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, welcomed Obama´s decision "to extend to the Dalai Lama the respect and courtesy he deserves as a globally respected leader."
"This meeting is better late than never, but it remains disappointing that the Dalai Lama was squeezed in at the last minute after much apparent hemming-and-hawing from the White House due to objections from Beijing," she said.
"This shouldn´t have been such a difficult decision," said Ros-Lehtinen, a member of the rival Republican Party.
The State Department in its latest annual report described "severe cultural and religious repression" in Tibet along with China´s predominantly Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang.
Rights groups this year reported a major crackdown on Kirti monastery in Sichuan province after an anti-government protest. The International Campaign for Tibet said police rounded up hundreds of monks and that two elderly Tibetan laypeople who tried to protest the monastery died after police beatings.
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