Bush, Dalai Lama meet over protest

WASHINGTON - President Bush met privately with the Dalai Lama yesterday, despite earlier warnings from China that the honors being accorded the long-exiled Buddhist leader this week by Congress and the White House would harm US-Chinese relations.

The strong protest, voiced by China's Foreign Ministry and the Communist Party secretary for Tibet, underlined China's determination to prevent the Dalai Lama from winning international support for his drive to gain autonomy for the mountainous region that has been under Chinese control for more than half a century.

After his meeting with Bush, the Dalai Lama said the president had asked him about the situation, and "accordingly, I explained." Speaking at a small, informal news conference outside the Park Hyatt Washington hotel, the Dalai Lama said that the two have developed a warm relationship and that the meeting felt "something like a reunion."

He laughed off the Chinese government's anger at the warm welcome he is receiving at the White House and on Capitol Hill.

"That always happens," he said of the Chinese reaction.

The Dalai Lama also expressed his solidarity with the Buddhist monks in Burma who are battling the military junta that runs the country. He said he expressed his appreciation for Laura Bush's public support of the monks and opposition to the junta's treatment of the repressed population of Burma. The Dalai Lama, a Nobel laureate based in Dharamsala, India, will receive a Congressional Gold Medal today in recognition for his years of struggle against Chinese rule. Bush himself will present the medal, marking the first time a sitting US president has met in public with the Tibetan spiritual and political leader. The Dalai Lama will make a public address on the West Lawn of the Capitol; thousands of Buddhists from around the world, and other admirers, are expected to attend.

The meeting between Bush and the Dalai Lama lasted about 30 minutes in the private residence of the White House. Administration staff would not release details nor release a photo of the meeting, in deference to Chinese sensibilities.

"We in no way want to stir the pot and make China feel we are sticking a stick in their eye," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. "This might be one thing we can do, but I don't believe it's going to soothe the feelings of the Chinese."

She said there will be plenty of photos of Bush and the Dalai Lama together today.

Perino said Bush first informed Chinese President Hu Jintao about the Dalai Lama ceremony two months ago during a meeting at an Asian summit in Australia. Bush has met privately with the Dalai Lama three times before and typically attends Congressional Gold Medal ceremonies.

For weeks, Chinese officials have been warning that such honors were an affront to the Chinese government, which holds that the Dalai Lama, no matter what he might say about autonomy, is seeking to split Tibet from China.

"The move will seriously damage China-US relations," a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, told reporters at a regular briefing.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said China had "solemnly demanded" that the Bush administration cancel the honors being arranged in Washington. The Communist Party secretary for Tibet, Zhang Qingli, used even stronger language. "We are furious," Zhang said in Beijing, where he was attending the party's 17th National Congress.

With the congress underway in the Chinese capital, officials here have shown particular sensitivity to anything that could be construed as a slight to China's national status.