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WASHINGTON : President George W. Bush on Wednesday defied China and became the first US leader to appear publicly with the Dalai Lama, as the Tibetan spiritual leader accepted Congress's top civilian honour.
In a formal ceremony in the US Capitol's ornate Rotunda, Bush called on Beijing to open talks with the 72-year-old exiled Buddhist icon, despite a fresh outburst of fury from Beijing over his visit.
"They will find this good man, to be a man of peace and reconciliation," Bush said, in the decorous room beneath the soaring dome of the US Capitol building, watched by lawmakers, Tibetan exiles and Buddhist monks.
Bush said the Dalai Lama was "a noble and spiritual leader. A universal symbol of peace and tolerance, a shepherd of the faithful and a keeper of the flame for his people."
The president had earlier provoked fresh anger from Beijing, by holding a traditional private meeting on Tuesday, with the Dalai Lama, preferred by previous US presidents.
The Dalai Lama said the award of the Congressional Gold Medal would bring "bring tremendous joy and encouragement to the Tibetan people.
"Their welfare is my constant motivation," he said, and stressed he was not seeking independence from China for Tibet, merely more autonomy.
Senate Republican minority leader Senator Mitch McConnell paid tribute to Bush, for appearing a live public event with the Dalai Lama, earning a prolonged ovation from a large audience.
"US presidents have met privately with the Dalai Lama for years, but it wasn't until today that any of them had lent the prestige of the office to a public event," McConnell said.
Senate Democratic Majority leader Harry Reid said the Dalai Lama was a "one man warrior for peace."
Earlier, the president was asked at a White House news conference why he was prepared to shrug off protests from China over the meeting.
"It's in their interest to meet with the Dalai Lama and I will say so at the ceremony today in Congress," Bush said, before becoming the first US leader to appear in public with the exiled spiritual leader.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi had warned that Bush's private meeting with the Dalai Lama and the Congress ceremony represented "a severe violation of the norms of international relations."
He accused the United States of having "severely hurt" China's feelings and interfered in its internal affairs.
But Bush said the ceremony would not dampen relations with the Asian giant.
He said if Chinese leaders sat down with the Dalai Lama, "they would find him to be a man of peace and reconciliation.
"I think it's in the country's interest to allow him to come to China and meet with him. I admire the Dalai Lama a lot. I support religious freedom. He supports religious freedom," Bush said.
The US president said that he had given advance notice to his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao about him attending the controversial ceremony honouring the Dalai Lama but the Chinese leader was unhappy about the move.
"I have consistently told the Chinese that religious freedom is in their nation's interest," said Bush, who had been frank with Hu on matters of religious freedom in all their meetings.
Past Congressional Gold Medal winners include former South African president Nelson Mandela; Mother Teresa of Calcutta; polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk; tough-guy Western actor John Wayne; singer Frank Sinatra; and the late pope John Paul II.
Top Democratic and Republican leaders of the US Senate and House of Representatives, as well as Holocaust author Elie Wiesel, made remarks at the Congress ceremony. Hollywood star Richard Gere, long a campaigner for human rights in Tibet, was also to be present.
The Dalai Lama fled to India following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, and currently lives in the northern hill town of Dharamsala, which is also the seat of his government in exile.
China has ruled Tibet, a devoutly Buddhist land of six million, since sending troops into the region in 1950, and officially "liberating" it from feudal rule a year later. - AFP/de
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