Dalai Lama playfully threw snow at the press

The Dalai Lama playfully threw snow at the press gathered in front of the White House. The exiled spiritual leader of Tibet then admonished the media not to "ask silly questions" at a press conference later in the day. (Feb. 18)

Obama used his first presidential meeting with the Dalai Lama to press China, under international criticism for its Tibet policies, to preserve Tibetan identity and respect human rights.

He sat down with the Dalai Lama, reviled by the Chinese government as a dangerous separatist, in the face of wider tensions over U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan, China's currency practices and Internet censorship.

While defying Beijing's demands to scrap the talks and showing a willingness to irritate an increasingly assertive China, the White House took pains to keep the encounter low-key, barring media coverage. But it later posted a photo on its official website of the two men side by side in conversation.

Beijing said it was "strongly dissatisfied" about the meeting and expected Washington to take steps to put bilateral relations back on a healthy course.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said the meeting "violated the U.S. government's repeated acceptance that Tibet is a part of China and it does not support Tibetan independence."

Monks living in Tongren, an overwhelmingly ethnic Tibetan part of the northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai, set off fireworks for a second night to celebrate.

"This is great news for the Tibetans," one monk told Reuters. "We don't care that it makes the government angry. It makes us very happy that Obama met him."

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[babehc]

he is funny "dont ask silly question". but seriously is he not cold???

[XDents]

Wow, the 2 people that disliked this.. I dont know what to say.. I'm dissapointed. This guy has been running his whole life since China invaded Tibet and threw him out of it. He have been praying and fighting to get Tibet back, and you just dislike him? .. Go to He**, stop going to videos and dislike them because you dont like them, why go to the video then? Great respect for Tenzin Gyatso.