Bush Dismisses Chinese Concerns Over Lama Visit

President Bush said this morning that he does not expect his open embrace of the Dalai Lama to imperil relations between the United States and China, despite strong protests from Chinese leaders against the honors being bestowed upon the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader.

"I admire the Dalai Lama a lot," Bush said in a morning news conference. "I support religious freedom, he supports religious freedom. . . . I've consistently told the Chinese that religious freedom is in their interest."

The 72-year-old monk, who holds rock-star status in the United States, arrived in Washington yesterday and had a private meeting with the president and first lady, which he described to reporters afterward as "warm" and like a "reunion."

Later in the day, he received the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress's top civilian honor. Bush attended the ceremony and offered remarks, marking the first time a sitting president has appeared in public with the man who has become a cultural icon and a global symbol of peace.

The Dalai Lama is being honored for his years of struggle against Chinese rule over Tibet, a mountainous region China has controlled for more than half a century. He is considered the spiritual leader of 6 million Tibetans.

In addition to visiting the White House and Congress, he will give a speech this afternoon on the West Lawn of the Capitol, attend State Department briefings and a gala hosted by actor Richard Gere and tour a homeless shelter in Northwest Washington.

Bush said he has told Chinese President Hu Jintao he planned to attend the medal ceremony "because I want to honor this man. . . . If they were to sit down with the Dalai Lama, they would find him to be a man of peace and reconciliation."

In addition, Bush said, "I like going to the gold medal ceremonies. I think it's a good thing for the president to do, to recognize those who Congress has honored."

But China has warned that the five-day visit could chill U.S.-Chinese relations.

"We are furious," Zhang Qingli, the Communist Party secretary for Tibet, told reporters yesterday in Beijing, where he was attending the party's 17th National Congress.

China's strong protest underlined its determination to prevent the Dalai Lama from winning international support for autonomy for Tibet. Beijing has ruled Tibet since 1951, when troops from the newly formed Communist government moved in and ended a period of self-rule that had flourished while the rest of China was in turmoil. The Dalai Lama, a temporal as well as spiritual leader, led resistance to the imposition of Chinese authority, with assistance from the CIA, until he was forced to flee over the Himalayas to India in 1959.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said China had "solemnly demanded" that the Bush administration cancel the honors being arranged in Washington.