WASHINGTON (AFP) — Washington was set Wednesday to bestow one of its top civilian honors on the Dalai Lama, a move that sparked anger from China and risked escalating already heightened tensions over the exiled leader.
Brushing off warnings from China over the US decision to give the Tibetan spiritual icon the Congressional Gold Medal, President George W. Bush made the unprecedented move of announcing he would attend the award ceremony.
It marks the first time the US president has agreed to appear with the Dalai Lama publicly, as prior visits have been held behind closed doors to avoid sparking ire from China.
The two will meet privately on Tuesday, a day ahead of the ceremony, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said aims to honor how the Dalai Lama "has used his position to promote wisdom, compassion, and non-violence as a solution."
The Congress last year approved the bill, ratified by Bush, to award the medal which has also been given in the past to Sir Winston Churchill, Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa and former South African president Nelson Mandela.
However, China insists the 72-year-old religious figure is a dangerous separatist who threatens Chinese stability, and said the award "seriously interfered in China's internal affairs and damaged China-US relations."
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino acknowledged that Bush "understands that the Chinese have concerns about this," but that the president had always attended the ceremony and would "proudly be there to witness the event."
"We would hope that the Chinese leader would get to know the Dalai Lama as the president sees him, as a spiritual leader and someone who wants peace," she added.
The Dalai Lama's trip also comes amid accusations from Beijing that monks loyal to him instigated an attack on the Chinese embassy in India because they were angry about new Chinese laws on reincarnation, an important element of the Buddhist faith.
The Tibetans were protesting regulations, in effect since September 1, stating that Tibetan living Buddhas are no longer allowed to be reincarnated without permission from the atheist communist government.
The Dalai Lama's trip to Washington October 15-19, is part of an extended tour of North America that will also include a visit with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
During his Washington trip, he is to give a public address on the US Capitol grounds, attend a gala dinner in his honor and visit a women's homeless shelter.
He met last month with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, and talked with Australian Prime Minister John Howard in June -- all visits that China blasted as damaging to ties.
In past weeks, China's state press has published a series of commentaries denouncing the Dalai Lama as a religious fraud and a "liar" who was seeking to restore Tibet's former feudal system.
"It is the 14th Dalai Lama's own deeds that have step by step betrayed his real intentions and political ambitions put under the guise of Buddhism and peace," said one lengthy commentary issued by Xinhua news agency.
But the Dalai Lama's special envoy Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari said China's attempts to isolate the spiritual leader will fail, and recalled that the Dalai Lama long ago gave up seeking independence for Tibet and only wants agreements on autonomy.
"I think this is an effort by Congress to send a powerful message to the Chinese," he said.
"China's effort to isolate the Dalai Lama is not going to work," he said, adding that the president's presence at the ceremony, as well as the issuing of the award, "will give tremendous encouragement and hope" to the Tibetan struggle.
The only other US honor to rival the Congressional Gold Medal is the Presidential Medal of Freedom, bestowed by the president to recognize a civilian's "exceptional meritorious service."
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