Washington, USA - President George W. Bush Wednesday called for an end to "religious repression" in China as he defiantly became the first US leader to appear in public with the Dalai Lama.
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader accepted the Congressional Gold Medal, lawmakers' highest civilian honor, in a formal ceremony in the US Capitol's ornate Rotunda -- a move certain to further enrage leaders in Beijing.
Bush praised the 72-year-old Buddhist icon for keeping the "flame" of Tibet's people alive, and called on Beijing to open political talks with him about the region's future.
"They will find this good man to be a man of peace and reconciliation," Bush said in the decorous room beneath the soaring dome of the US Capitol building, watched by lawmakers, Tibetan exiles and Buddhist monks.
"Americans cannot look to the plight of the religiously oppressed and close our eyes or turn away," Bush said.
"That is why I will continue to urge the leaders of China to welcome the Dalai Lama to China," said the president, in a ceremony broadcast live to China by radio, television and the Internet by Voice of America.
The Dalai Lama reiterated that he was not seeking independence from China but wanted greater autonomy, and he said he was sorry that his presence in the United States had ruffled Sino-US relations.
"The consistency of American support for Tibet has not gone unnoticed in China," he said during the ceremony.
"Where this has caused some tension in the US-China relations I feel a sense of regret."
Bush had earlier provoked a fresh outburst of anger from Beijing, for his previous private meeting on Tuesday with the Dalai Lama, a style of encounter preferred by previous US presidents.
The Dalai Lama fled to India following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, and currently lives in the northern hill town of Dharamsala, which is also the seat of his government in exile.
China has ruled Tibet since sending troops into the region in 1950, and officially "liberating" it from feudal rule a year later.
Senate Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell praised Bush for appearing at the public event with the Dalai Lama.
"US presidents have met privately with the Dalai Lama for years, but it wasn't until today that any of them had lent the prestige of the office to a public event," McConnell said.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi earlier warned that Bush's private meeting with the Dalai Lama and the Congress ceremony represented "a severe violation of the norms of international relations."
He accused the United States of having "severely hurt" China's feelings and interfered in its internal affairs.
But Bush said he gave advance notice to his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, and that the Chinese leader was unhappy about the move.
"I have consistently told the Chinese that religious freedom is in their nation's interest," said Bush.
Past Congressional Gold Medal winners include former South African president Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk, tough-guy Western actor John Wayne, singer Frank Sinatra, and the late pope John Paul II.
Top Democratic and Republican leaders of the US Senate and House of Representatives, as well as Holocaust author Elie Wiesel, made remarks at the Congress ceremony. Hollywood star Richard Gere, long a campaigner for human rights in Tibet, was also present.
Addressing thousands of admirers of the Dalai Lama just before he walked down the steps of the US Capitol, Gere described the ceremony as "one of those magic moments that I will never forget. Most of us were in tears."
"It was really something extraordinary," the Buddhist actor said. "His voyage to this moment is proof that non-violence can work in the end as a tool of change, as a tool of righteousness in the world."
The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, two of the most influential US newspapers, praised the ceremony on Thursday.
"It is our hope that leaders will continue to ignore China's protests and threats, and that by continuing to honor the Dalai Lama they will finally persuade Beijing to open serious talks about granting autonomy to Tibet," read the Times editorial.
It added: "We would like to think that the spiritual leader's lifelong dedication to nonviolence and tolerance might also rub off on some of the people he meets in Washington."
"For a change," the Journal wrote in a piece titled 'Dalai Drama,' "Congress got some foreign policy symbolism right."
The event "honored both the Dalai Lama and American values," according to the newspaper.