Obama to welcome Dalai Lama at the White House

US president Barack Obama will welcome Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama tomorrow at the White House following a warning from the Chinese government that the visit should not jeopardize Washington’s support of the OneChina policy.

The White House announced on its daily agenda that the meeting will take place on Wednesday at 10.15 local time (14.15 GMT) in the Map Room.

The Tibetan religious leader is currently in Washington where he met with both Democratic and Republican members of Congress and gave a speech at the US Institute of Peace which began with one minute of silence for the mass shooting victims in Orlando, Florida, this weekend.

“As a figure revered by Tibetans and people around the world, His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) reminds us of our great responsibility to act to safeguard human rights, promote equality and protect the environment,” the Democratic Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.

Pelosi added that “If freedomloving people do not speak out against oppression in Tibet because of our commercial interest with China, then we surrender all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world.”

The Chinese government today warned the United States that it hopes that the visits of both the Dalai Lama and Taiwanese president Tsai Ingwen does not jeopardize Washington’s support of the OneChina policy.

“We hope the US government fulfills its commitments ... and not send wrong signals to those who attempt to divide China,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said today at a press conference.