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An adviser to President Barack Obama and another U.S. official met with the Dalai Lama at his headquarters in Dharamshala, India, to brief the spiritual leader about the administration’s approach to Tibet.
Presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett and Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero held talks with the Dalai Lama today and yesterday, according to a statement posted on his office’s Web site. The Dalai Lama detailed to Jarrett the issues he wants Obama to take up with the Chinese government when the president visits China in November, according to the statement.

China has criticized countries that allow visits by the Dalai Lama. Last month China reiterated its “resolute opposition” to the Dalai Lama’s visit to Taiwan for five days ending Sept. 5, saying it is “bound to have a negative influence” on cross-strait relations, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said Aug. 31.
Jarrett underlined Obama’s commitment to supporting the Tibetan people and securing their human and civil rights, according to the statement. She also said Obama commended the Dalai Lama for looking for a solution based on autonomy within China.
The Dalai Lama said he was hopeful that the Tibetans may see progress in the resolution of their differences with China during Obama’s presidency, according to the statement.
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Tenzin Takhla, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama, said earlier today that the Tibetan leader met with three U.S. officials. The later statement referred only to Jarrett and Otero.
The Dalai Lama is scheduled to teach Buddhism in New York on Oct. 4 and will attend a two-day conference in Washington four days later, according to his Web site. On Oct. 10, he will attend a function organized by a Tibetan group in Washington.
The Dalai Lama set up the government-in-exile in Dharamshala in 1960, after India gave him refuge along with 80,000 supporters who fled Tibet after a failed uprising in 1959. More than 120,000 Tibetans live outside the Himalayan region, which China took over in 1951.
China has said it peacefully liberated Tibet and saved its people from feudal serfdom. It says Tibetans have the political rights of other ethnic groups in China and that the establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965 introduced democracy.