Obama meets Dalai Lama despite Chinese warning

[Triana]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama hosted the Dalai Lama at the White House on Thursday, brushing aside China's warning that the talks with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader could further damage strained Sino-U.S. ties.

Raising issues sure to stoke China's ire, Obama used his first presidential meeting with the Dalai Lama to press Beijing, under international criticism for its Tibet policies, to preserve Tibet's identity and respect human rights there.

Obama sat down with the Dalai Lama, who is reviled by the Chinese government as a dangerous separatist but admired by many people around the world as a man of peace, in the face of wider tensions over U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan, China's currency practices and Internet censorship.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1116932520100218