by Shaun Tandon

WASHINGTON – The Dalai Lama sweeps into Washington on Monday for a week-long visit that will see him confer with US lawmakers and reach out to ethnic Chinese, but not meet with President Barack Obama.

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, an itinerant traveler at age 74, is coming to the US capital after two weeks of travel around North America that featured spiritual teachings and an appearance with fellow Nobel laureates.

China, which sent troops into Tibet in 1950, has been ramping up pressure on other nations not to receive the Nobel Peace Prize winner who prefers to describe himself as a simple Buddhist monk.

Obama sent a delegation to the Dalai Lama's home in exile in India last month that confirmed he would not meet him until after his first presidential trip to Beijing in November.

Activists said they expected a meeting to take place by year-end and expressed hope Obama would raise Tibet in China. But some Tibet supporters are nevertheless fuming.

"What would a Buddhist monk or Buddhist nun in Drapchi prison think when he heard that President Obama, the president of the United States, is not going to meet with the Dalai Lama?" asked Frank Wolf, a Republican congressman and outspoken critic of China's human rights record.

"It's against the law to even have a picture of the Dalai Lama. I can almost hear the words of the Chinese guards saying to them that nobody cares about you in the United States."

Tibetan prime minister-in-exile Samdhong Rinpoche accused the United States and other Western nations of "appeasement" toward China as its economic weight grows.

Obama, who met with the Dalai Lama when he was a US senator, has been seeking a broader relationship with China, which is the biggest holder of the ballooning US debt.

The Dalai Lama has met every sitting US president since George Bush senior in 1991.

Last Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton named a coordinator for Tibet tasked with promoting dialogue between China and representatives of Tibet's spiritual leader.

Clinton announced that under-secretary of state for democracy and global affairs Maria Otero will also serve as special coordinator for Tibetan issues for Obama's administration, the State Department said.

In Washington, the Dalai Lama will see congressional leaders including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longstanding supporter of the Tibetan cause.

He also plans to present an award to a group of Chinese who have tried to build bridges with Tibetans. Organizers declined to identify the honorees beforehand, fearing it could put them at personal risk.

Kate Saunders, communications director of the International Campaign for Tibet, which works closely with the Dalai Lama, said the Tibetan leader wanted to "show his commitment to engaging with China."

"This is an important visit to renew connections with congressional leaders and speak directly with Congress at a critical moment for Tibet," she said.

China last year put down some of the biggest protests by Tibetans in years in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.

China has said "rioters" were responsible for 21 deaths, while saying that its security forces killed only one "insurgent." But the Tibetan government in exile said more than 200 Tibetans were killed in the subsequent crackdown.

China has since intensified pressure on the Dalai Lama, whom it accuses of being a "splittist." The Dalai Lama espouses non-violence and says he is only seeking greater rights for Tibetans under Chinese rule.

China called off a summit with European nations after French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with the Dalai Lama. South Africa refused even to allow the Tibetan spiritual leader to visit.

But the Dalai Lama nonetheless draws packed audiences for his spiritual lectures, with tickets sold out for a talk he will deliver in Washington on "finding wisdom in the modern world."

"Certainly the Dalai Lama's position as a spiritual leader and a human rights activist has never flagged. But in dealing with China, anything really can be constructed as a political statement," said Dahpon Ho, a specialist on East Asian history at American University.

"The fact that the Dalai Lama is even traveling around continues to upset China because his international profile has never died."