President Obama welcomes the Dalai Lama for third meeting

President Barack Obama meets with the Dalai Lama in the Map Room of the White House, Feb. 21, 2014.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
The Dalai Lama met with President Obama this morning (February 21) in the map room of the President’s residence at the White House. It is the third such meeting between the two Nobel Peace Prize laureates. ICT President Matteo Mecacci said, “This meeting affirms the long-standing friendship and respect of the United States toward His Holiness, his message, and his cause.”
Not long after the White House announced the meeting, the Chinese foreign ministry issued a press release, vehemently asserting that by meeting the Dalai Lama, the United States would “seriously violate norms governing international relations and severely impair China-US relations.” In a further sign of Beijing’s quixotic apoplexy over the meeting, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson responded to a reporter’s question at a subsequent press briefing by insisting that, “(if) the U.S. president wishes to meet any person, it’s his own affair, but he cannot meet the Dalai [Lama].” The Tibetan spiritual leader first met with President Obama in the White House in February 2010, and again in July 2011.
The Dalai Lama began his current 17-day US visit on February 18, in what will include two separate trips to the nation’s capital. He participated in a forum on happiness and human fulfillment on February 20, hosted by the influential American Enterprise Institute, and is scheduled to hold a public talk at the National Cathedral on March 7, entitled: ‘Beyond Religion: Ethics for the Whole World.’
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