Dalai Lama lands in US ahead of talks with Barack Obama

“help find a solution in resolving the Tibet issue that would be mutually beneficial to the Tibetan and Chinese people.”

Sensitive issues

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs last week defended the decision to receive the Dalai Lama, saying he was “an internationally respected religious leader”.

He said the Sino-US relationship was mature enough to disagree while finding common ground on international issues.

Mr Obama avoided meeting the Dalai Lama in Washington last year ahead of his own first state visit to Beijing.

Thursday’s meeting will take place in the White House Map Room, not the symbolic surroundings of the Oval Office, where Mr Obama normally meets foreign leaders and VIP guests.

The Dalai Lama will also meet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the State Department.

Citing the “high sensitivity of Tibet-related issues”, China’s foreign ministry had urged the US to call off the visit to “avoid any more damage to Sino-US relations”.

China, which took over Tibet in 1950, considers the Dalai Lama a separatist and tries to isolate the spiritual leader by asking foreign leaders not to see him.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule and has since been living in India.

‘Cyber attack’

The White House meeting comes soon after China expressed strong displeasure at the sale of $6.4bn (£4bn) worth of US weapons to Taiwan.

Beijing regards Taiwan as a Chinese territory to be reunified by force if necessary.

Another source of tension is internet censorship, following claims by the search giant Google that it had suffered a “sophisticated and targeted” cyber attack from inside China.

Mr Obama has also given signs of getting tougher on the long-standing dispute over China’s currency, which some traders feel is kept artificially weak.

However, the US wants Chinese support in the United Nations regarding sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programmes.

This is not the first time that China has been angered by US support for the Dalai Lama.

Beijing was infuriated in 2007 when President George W Bush both received the Dalai Lama at the White House and attended a ceremony at which he was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal – the top US civilian honour.

It was the first time a sitting US president had appeared in public with the exiled Tibetan leader.