Dalai Lama to visit White House 'later this month'

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Dalai Lama will be welcomed at the White House later this month despite China's anger at the Tibetan spiritual leader's planned meeting with President Barack Obama, an official said Thursday.

The White House also on Friday tried to play down a fierce row on a number of fronts with China, and said it believed that Beijing would continue to help confront Iran's nuclear challenge despite its reluctance to embrace sanctions.

With economic, political and diplomatic storms rocking the US-China relationship, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was pressed to name the date when the Dalai Lama would make his expected visit to the White House.

"He will be here later this month," Gibbs said, but added that he could not give an exact date for the meeting, say whether it would be in the Oval Office or if Obama and the Dalai Lama would appear together.

As China mounts fierce advance protests about the visit, Gibbs said that Obama had informed China's President Hu Jintao when they met in Beijing in November that he would go ahead with the meeting. Related article: For Obama on China, no more Mr. Nice Guy

Obama had declined to meet the Dalai Lama, who was in the United States late last year, before going to China, in an apparent bid to get his ties with Beijing off on the right foot.

The Chinese government on Wednesday said it "resolutely opposes" the Dalai Lama's visit to the United States and any of his meetings with US leaders.

"We urge the US side to clearly recognize the high sensitivity of the Tibet issue and handle related issues carefully and appropriately to avoid causing more harm to Sino-US ties," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu.

Gibbs also sought to downplay the current back-and-forth between the United States and China, adding that all the issues being aired publicly, had been talked about in private between the two sides.

"There will be issues that we will disagree on, and we will disagree on them both in private and in public," Gibbs said. "We envision this relationship as one where we can work together on issues of mutual concern.

"We've worked together on stabilizing the world economy. We've worked together on issues of proliferation, particularly around -- around North Korea."

Gibbs also said he thought China would continue to help the United States combat Iran's nuclear challenge, despite Beijing's skepticism over the prospect of new sanctions.

"I think the Chinese will continue to work with us on the important next steps that we have to take regarding Iran," he said, adding that to do so was in China's national security interest.

Earlier, in Paris, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said China would not join the United States, France and other Western powers in calling for sanctions against Iran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium.

"This talk of sanctions at this moment will complicate the situation and stand in the way of finding a diplomatic solution," Yang said at a public appearance at a French think tank.

The United States and its allies fear Iran is using an uranium enrichment drive to secretly develop fissile material for nuclear weapons. Iran says it only wants to produce fuel for a peaceful nuclear energy program.

Yang argued that Iran had not "totally shut the door" to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) efforts to negotiate a deal and argued that diplomacy should be given a chance.

On Wednesday, Obama sparked China's ire by saying his administration had decided to get "much tougher" about enforcement of existing trade rules.

Beijing hit back, saying "wrongful accusations and pressure will not help solve the issue."

Last week, China reacted furiously when Washington signed off on a huge arms shipment for nationalist Taiwan.