Senior US State Department and White House officials met with the Dalai Lama in New York on Wednesday and “reaffirmed the US commitment to advancing the human rights of Tibetans,” the State Department said.
A meeting with the 89-year-old exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism would likely anger China, which considers him a dangerous separatist and opposes contacts with him by officials of any country.
The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, went on his knees to New York in June for medical treatment, his first visit to the United States since 2017.
Uzra Zeya, the US Under Secretary for Human Rights and Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, arrived in New York to meet the Dalai Lama, accompanied by Kelly Razzouk, the White House Director for Human Rights, a State Department statement said.
It said Zeya “conveyed President Biden’s best wishes for His Holiness’ good health and reaffirmed the US commitment to support efforts to advance the human rights of Tibetans and preserve their unique historical, linguistic, cultural, and religious heritage.”
Zeya discussed US efforts to address human rights abuses in Tibet and support for the resumption of dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama, the statement said.
A group of US lawmakers met the Dalai Lama in India ahead of his visit to the US and said they would not allow China to influence the choice of his successor.
Last month, China expressed strong opposition to a US law signed by President Joe Biden that presses Beijing to resolve a dispute over Tibet’s demand for greater autonomy and vowed to “firmly defend” its interests.
The Dalai Lama has met US officials, including US presidents, during his previous visits to the US, but Biden has not met him since he took office in 2021.
In 2020, Biden criticized then-President Donald Trump for saying he was the only president in three decades who had not met or spoken to the Tibetan spiritual leader, calling it “disgraceful”.
Wednesday’s meeting comes as Biden seeks to stabilise strained relations with China ahead of the November 5 presidential election, in which Vice President Kamala Harris is running against Trump.
China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the meeting.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)