Greeting, no meeting at US prayer breakfast

US President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama exchanged greetings but did not meet directly at a religious event in Washington yesterday. China had previously warned against a meeting.

Both men were at an annual high-profile prayer breakfast. The Dalai Lama was seated at a table in the front row across from Obama.

Obama nodded and smiled at the Dalai Lama, waving after clasping his hands together in a bow-like gesture toward him as the event began. Organizers also recognized him. Senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett was seated at the table with the Dalai Lama.

After the breakfast event was announced, China said that it opposed any country meeting with him under any circumstances.

Before the event, an English-language commentary issued by Xinhua news agency strongly warned against any encounter. “Chumming with a secessionist is playing with fire,” Xinhua said.

“If Obama meets the Dalai Lama, he will simply reverse the positive trends established by China and the US in the development of their relations. For all that, any possible meeting or encounter with the Dalai Lama planned by Obama will dampen the hard-won positive momentum in China-US relations,” it said.

Previous encounters between the two have been held behind closed doors.

Ahead of the breakfast, the White House was quick to play down talk of a first public encounter.

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