Dalai Lama set aside by Obama, honored at U.S Capitol

The Dalai Lama waves as he arrives at his hotel in Washington, October 5, 2009.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled religious leader -- brushed aside by U.S. President Barack Obama in favor of communist China -- was saluted at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday for his work for human rights.

The presentation ceremony underscored Obama's dilemma in dealing with China, a growing power and the biggest holder of U.S. debt, and the Dalai Lama, a self-described "simple Buddhist monk" who Beijing accuses of seeking to separate Tibet from China.

For the first time in 18 years, the Dalai Lama is visiting Washington this week without stopping by to see the U.S. president.

The decision not to meet the Tibetan leader was made amid efforts to improve U.S.-Chinese relations on issues from stemming global warming to reigning in North Korea's nuclear weapons.

The Dalai Lama received a human rights award named in honor of the late Tom Lantos, a former chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.

In a statement, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, accused Obama of "kowtowing to Beijing" by refusing to meet with the 74-year-old monk.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi presented the award to the Dalai Lama and warned: "Unless we speak out for human rights in China and Tibet, we lose moral authority to speak out for human rights anywhere else in the world."

China sent its troops into Tibet in 1950, prompting the Dalai Lama to go to India to establish a government in exile. Negotiations between China and the Dalai Lama's envoys were suspended last year, provoking violence in Tibet.

The White House said that with the agreement of the Dalai Lama, Obama will not meet with him until after the president's November summit with Chinese leader Hu Jintao.

At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs said: "Our relationship with China, having a strong relationship and a good dialogue with them, allows us to talk to them about the cares and concerns of the Tibetan people."

"We're fully in support of a meeting (with the Dalai Lama) that will take place later in the year," Gibbs said.

The Dalai Lama, in remarks at his award ceremony, called United States as a champion of "liberty, freedom, democracy."

"You must preserve these principles," he said. "That's important."

Republican Senator John McCain, who lost last year's presidential election to Obama, also spoke at the ceremony, saying: "The Dalai Lama has spent his life in the passionate, tireless and non-violent defense of his people's right to self-determination and dignity."

Katrina Lantos Swett, president of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, noted that when Obama was elected last year as the first black U.S. president, he said, "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice."

"These hopeful words should remind us that we cannot simply standby and wait for the arc to bend. We have a duty to use our power and influence to hasten its trajectory," said Swett, who has called on Obama to meet with the Dalai Lama.

(Additional reporting by Toby Zakaria; Editing by Eric Beech)