Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has landed in the United States ahead of a meeting with President Barack Obama that has been condemned by China.
The 74-year-old monk arrived at Dulles International Airport near Washington and was driven under security to a downtown hotel, where he will greet Tibetans celebrating their Losar new year.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with the Dalai Lama ahead of his meeting with Obama.
"She has met with the Dalai Lama before and looks forward to the opportunity to do so again," a spokesman told reporters.
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"The Dalai Lama is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, internationally revered religious and cultural leader and the secretary will meet him in this capacity as recent secretaries of state have done," he said.
The White House has refused Beijing's demands to call off Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama, who fled his Chinese-ruled homeland for exile in India in 1959.
Obama says his meeting with the Dalai Lama is private and will see him in the White House Map Room, not the center of presidential power of the Oval Office.
A State Department official said that arrangements were still being made for Clinton's meeting with the Dalai Lama and it was possible it would also be held privately.
The United States has refused to cancel the trip despite warnings from China that it will undermine relations.
