AFP
A US envoy held talks on Monday with Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and voiced support for a peaceful solution with China, officials said, in the first meeting between the two sides in months.
The Dalai Lama, who is on a nine-day trip through North America, met in Atlanta with Maria Otero, the under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs who serves as the US coordinator on Tibet.
A State Department official called it a "private discussion on issues of mutual interest" and reiterated the US view that Tibet is part of China.
"We do not support Tibetan independence. We strongly support dialogue between China and representatives of the Dalai Lama to resolve differences," the official said on condition of anonymity.
It was the first meeting between US officials and the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India, since the Tibetan spiritual leader met with President Barack Obama in February at the White House.
Mindful of Chinese sensitivities, the White House did not allow media access to the meeting and said Obama was seeing the Dalai Lama in his capacity as a respected religious leader.
Lodi Gyari, the Dalai Lama's chief negotiator with China, said that the monk reiterated to Otero his "Middle Way" of working non-violently to improve the rights of Tibetans while staying under Chinese rule.
"Support for his efforts from the United States has been critical at many levels and His Holiness was very pleased to hear again from Under Secretary Otero that the Obama administration (supports) his Middle Way approach," he said.
Despite his professed support for the Middle Way, the Dalai Lama is branded by China as a dangerous separatist. Beijing routinely protests foreign leaders' meetings with the Dalai Lama, who enjoys a wide global following.
The Dalai Lama fled Lhasa in 1959 as China crushed an abortive uprising. He won the Nobel Peace Prize three decades later.
He is now 75 and many Western observers believe China's leaders are pursuing a strategy of waiting for his death, hoping that global support will end with him.