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NEW DELHI: The United States has given its backing to a visit by the Dalai Lama to a remote Buddhist region in India that is claimed by China, according to reports.
Beijing has strongly opposed the Dalai Lama's week-long visit, due to begin Sunday, to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh that is home to the ancient Tawang monastery.
The Buddhist spiritual leader, who has lived in India since fleeing Tibet half a century ago, stopped at the monastery after his escape and is due to give several days of religious teachings there.
"The Dalai Lama is a religious leader and he, of course, can travel to carry out that role," US Undersecretary of State Maria Otero was quoted as saying Friday in New Delhi by The Times of India.
"He is visiting a monastery, a holy place. And from our perspective, this is one of the roles he plays," she said when asked for her reaction to Chinese protests over the Tibetan leader's visit.
Otero added US President Barack Obama was likely to meet the Dalai Lama later this year.
She said Obama would visit China this month and Tibet would be one of the issues discussed, the Press Trust of India reported.
"I think probably something will emerge," she said, adding Obama had a lot of respect for the Dalai Lama.
Such is the sensitivity of the border region that India refused to allow the maroon-robed monk last year to travel to Arunachal Pradesh, which he has visited several times before.
But amid increasing border friction between India and China, New Delhi said this year the Dalai Lama was free to "visit any part of our country".
Indian analysts say allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh is a signal to Beijing reaffirming India's claim to the Himalayan foothills state governed by India but claimed by China.
The Dalai Lama's presence in India, where he has a government in exile, has been a thorn in ties between China and India, which fought a brief war over their Himalayan territories, including Arunachal, in 1962.
Beijing views him as a "splittist" seeking to break up China, despite the Nobel laureate's calls for autonomy rather than independence for Tibet.
- AFP/yb
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