Obama-Dalai meeting to send a strong signal to China: Tenzin Takhla

The Tibetan government-in-exile today said the forthcoming meeting between the Dalai Lama and US president Barack Obama will send a strong signal to China that it needs to work with Tibetans to find a solution to the issue.

"The forthcoming meeting will send a strong signal to the Chinese that they need to work with us to resolve the issue", Tenzin Takhla, joint secretary to the Dalai Lama, said in a statement here.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, who left for his US journey today, would brief the US president about the situation in Tibet and the latest ninth round of talks between his special envoys and the Chinese authorities, he said.

"No matter what China says, for Dalai Lama, the main issue is the six million people in Tibet and their well-being," he added.

The meeting between Obama and the 74-year-old Nobel Laureate is scheduled to be held on February 18 in Washington.

Dalai Lama's secretary Chhime Chhoekyape said the White House meeting would send a comforting signal to those living in Tibet.

Earlier, hundreds of Tibetans carrying "khatas" (traditional Tibetan scarves), burning incense sticks and flowers lined the road here to greet their temporal head who left for his US journey.     

During his stay in America, the Buddhist leader would give a series of public talks on cultivating compassion and world peace in California and Florida, Takhla said.