Obama, Dalai Lama To Meet At The National Prayer Breakfast; Chinese Uneasiness Expected

Obama, Dalai Lama To Meet At The National Prayer Breakfast

US President Barack Obama will take part in a public event on 5 February; the Dalai Lama is also expected to be there. Observers are seeing this as a move that will irk China. Obama will speak about the importance of religious tolerance at the annual National Prayer Breakfast. Lama, the symbol of Tibet's struggle for independence, has also been invited for the event.

There is no official word on whether the two Nobel Laureates will meet there or not, but the National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan has said that the two leaders have previously met on three occasions, their last meeting happened in February last year.  

"The President is a strong supporter of the Dalai Lama's teachings and preserving Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic traditions," he said.  "As he has done in the past, the President will see many religious leaders at the event, but we don't have any specific meeting with the Dalai Lama to announce."

Dalai Lama, 79, fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising, where he denounced the Chinese rule and established the nongovernmental Central Tibetan Administration. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 1989 for his unwavering advocacy for the autonomy in the region.

Tibet shares borders with Nepal, India, Bhutan, and Myanmar; China deems it a region of high strategic importance.

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