Dalai Lama Tibet, Obama meet despite on China’s warning
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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama met privately with the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, at the White House on Saturday, despite a warning from Beijing that the meeting would risk damaging relations between China and the U.S.
Reflecting the diplomatic sensitivity of the visit, the 44-minute meeting with the Dalai Lama — Obama’s second as president — was closed to the news media. China considers Tibet its territory and the Dalai Lama a separatist, although he favors self-rule rather than independence.
The Dalai Lama underscored that point in his conversation with Obama, according to a White House summary of the meeting. The White House statement also reflected the delicate balance Obama sought to strike, saying he expressed “strong support” for direct talks and a resolution between China and Tibet that protects both Tibetans’ basic rights and China’s claim to the territory. Obama also “stressed the importance he attaches to building a U.S.-China cooperative partnership.”
“The president reiterated his strong support for the preservation of the unique religious, cultural and linguistic traditions of Tibet and the Tibetan people throughout the world,” the statement said. “He underscored the importance of the protection of human rights of Tibetans in China.”
The meeting came at a particularly delicate time as China, the largest creditor to the U.S., has expressed concern about the risk of a default on U.S. bonds if Obama and congressional Republicans cannot break their impasse over raising the nation’s legal debt limit.
