Obama Welcomes Dalai Lama to White House

President Obama welcomed the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, to a private visit at the White House Thursday, despite protests from China.

The White House planned to release only one official photograph of the event, which was held in the Map Room on the ground floor of the White House, Bloomberg reported.

In October, the president decided not to meet with the Dalai Lama when the he was in Washington, apparently to avoid aggravating the Chinese before his summit in Beijing in November.

The Chinese, who rule over Tibet and view the Dalai Lam as a source contributing to unrest in his native land, were upset about Thursday's face-to-face meeting, but Obama went ahead with it anyway.

In a statement after the meeting, the White House said Obama told the Dalai Lama of "his strong support for the preservation of Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity, and the protection of human rights for Tibetans in the People's Republic of China. The president commended the Dalai Lama's 'middle way' approach, his commitment to nonviolence and his pursuit of dialogue with the Chinese government."

The Dalai Lama met with reporters outside the White House, wearing only his customary burgundy and gold robe and sandals on another chilly Washington day. He said the two leaders discussed world peace and "the promotion of human value."