White House Adviser Visits With Dalai Lama in India

BEIJING — A senior adviser to President Obama met the Dalai Lama on Monday in Dharamsala, in northern India, and discussed the exiled spiritual leader’s views on how to preserve Tibetan identity, a White House spokesman said.

Times Topics: Dalai LamaThe adviser, Valerie Jarrett, “conveyed the president’s respect” and heard the Dalai Lama’s “commitment to dialogue with the Chinese government, and that he does not seek independence but rather sees Tibet’s future as a part of China,” Mike Hammer, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said in an e-mail message.
“We think his views deserve our attention, and that of the Chinese government,” he said.
China says the Dalai Lama, who fled to India after a failed uprising by Tibetans in 1959, is a separatist leader who should be shunned by countries that seek good relations with China. His trips overseas routinely provoke angry rebukes from China.

Chinese officials have urged President Obama not to meet with the Dalai Lama, but previous American presidents refused similar requests from China.

President Bush met the Dalai Lama several times. In 2007, Mr. Bush praised him as Congress awarded the Tibetan leader the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor in United States.

Ms. Jarrett was the highest-ranking Washington official to visit the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, where he lives, since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled there in March 2008. The Dalai Lama visited the United States in May and plans to return next month.

The Dalai Lama’s office said in a statement that Ms. Jarrett “reiterated President Obama’s commitment to support the Tibetan people in protecting their distinct religious, linguistic, and cultural heritage and securing respect for their human rights and civil liberties.”

The statement also said that the Dalai Lama, 74, hopes to meet President Obama after the president visits China in November.

Ms. Jarrett was accompanied by Maria Otero, under secretary of state for global affairs, who will be the administration’s official in charge of the Tibet issue, aides to the Dalai Lama said.