Dalai Lama pleased with Obama meeting

The Dalai Lama says US President Barack Obama was "supportive" at the pair's controversial meeting in Washington overnight.

Mr Obama brushed aside China's warning not to meet the exiled Tibetan leader but in a concession to Beijing, the meeting was held behind closed doors and in the Map Room rather than the Oval Office.

After the meeting, the Dalai Lama emerged from the White House to playfully throw snow at some of the journalists.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said his cause was "just" and one of "peace" and he was "very happy" that the meeting had gone ahead.

"The President is very much supportive and so I express my thanks to him," he said.

He also expressed his admiration for the United States.

"Not economy or military power but mainly as a champion of democracy, freedom, human value, human creativity, these things," he said.

The White House says Mr Obama told the Dalai Lama of his "strong support" for the preservation of Tibet's identity and that he encouraged talks between the exiled Tibetan leader and China.

The Dalai Lama has now met every sitting US President since his 1991 meeting with George Bush.

Strained relations

This meeting could further strain relations between the US and China, which are already under pressure because of new US weapon sales to Taiwan and Google's accusations that its email service has been attacked by someone in China.

But Kenneth Lieberthal, a China expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, played down the ramifications of the meeting.

"I don't expect it to have a significant spillover effect on other aspects of US-China relations, it's one of those issues that as major countries we simply disagree on," he said.

"I actually think that the Chinese leadership is sincere in what they're saying. I don't think they are putting it on simply to build domestic support. I think this really does genuinely reflect the way they see the situation."

China scholar Professor David Shambaugh said it would have an impact on the countries' relationship in the short-term.

"Add to this cascading effect of blows to the relationship over the last two months and there are going to be more blows coming," he said.

"So the US-China relationship is in a bad patch. I would expect it's not going to disrupt the relationship or pull out of this period; there are too many common interests between the two countries that will prevent a real break between them."

The next test for the relationship is whether China's President, Hu Jintao, will go ahead with his planned visit to the US in April.
By Washington correspondent Kim Landers for AM