NEW YORK - Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, will start a tour of the United States next week that includes a scheduled meeting with White House officials, the New York Office of Tibet said on Friday.
The trip comes at a sensitive time in relations between Beijing and Washington with ties strained by the recent U.S. spy plane incident and the announcement of a U.S. arms sale to Taiwan.
The Tibet office did not have any details on which administration officials the Dalai Lama would meet or the subject of any discussions.
The visit starts on Monday and will run through May 28. The Tibet office said the trip was planned over a year in advance and will take the Dalai Lama to five states and the District of Columbia to meet with Buddhist communities and politicians.
The exiled spiritual leader will also use the trip to promote his campaign "on a process of peaceful negotiations with the Chinese leadership as a means to resolve the problem of Tibet," the office said in a statement.
The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Minneapolis; Salt Lake City; Portland, Oregon; San Jose; Madison, Wisconsin; Los Angeles; and Washington DC, the office said.
In recent years, the spiritual leader has made one or two trips a year to the United States. The visit will be his first since President George W. Bush took office earlier this year.
In Washington, the Dalai Lama will give a commencement address to graduates of the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University, one of America's top graduate schools for international relations.
The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule. He won the Nobel Peace Prize three decades later for a peaceful campaign for autonomy.
Western human rights groups have accused China of seeking to destroy Tibetan religion and culture. Beijing denies the charges, saying it is seeking to lift the region out of poverty and has accused to Dalai Lama of leading a separatist movement.
15:20 05-04-01
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