New Delhi - Top aides of US President Barack Obama held discussions with the Dalai Lama Monday ahead of the exiled Tibetan leader's US visit next month, officials said. Three US officials led by White House adviser Valerie Jarrett visited the northern Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan exile government and also held talks with prime minister-in-exile Samdhong Rinpoche on Sunday.
"The delegation led by Valerie Jarrett, who is a personal emissary of President Barack Obama, met His Holiness the Dalai Lama," Tenzin Taklha, a spokesman of the Tibetan leader, said over the phone.
He declined to give details of the meeting which lasted for nearly two hours.
It was the first high-level US visit to the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile since Obama's inauguration in January.
The 74-year-old Nobel laureate is scheduled to visit the US in October and hopes to meet Obama.
China strongly opposes the Dalai Lama meeting with foreign heads of state or government, accusing the monk of being a "splittist," advocating independence for Tibet, while the Dalai Lama maintains he supports only autonomy for the region.
The Tibetan government-in-exile is not recognized by any nation.
Beijing is watching the developments closely as the Dalai Lama, who has been received by US presidents since the early 1990's, had met with Obama before his November election.
Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have backed the Dalai Lama in campaign speeches.
During talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in March, Obama urged Beijing to hold talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama over Tibet
The Dalai Lama and many of his followers fled to Dharamsala after China cracked down on a Tibetan uprising 50 years ago.
At least 110,000 Tibetans live in Dharamsala and 35 settlements in India. Six million Tibetans live in the Tibetan Autonomous Region and adjoining areas of China.
