Dalai Lama
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi meets Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at his headquarters in Dharamsala, India.

WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — A U.S. Congressional delegation visited the Dalai Lama at his headquarters in India on Tuesday, with the objecting of drawing attention to human rights in Tibet at the same time President Donald Trump aims to improve U.S.-China relations.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi led the bipartisan congressional delegation to the Himalayan hill town where the 81-year-old Buddhist leader is based. The meeting is likely to upset China, which regards the Dalai Lama as a separatist.

“As we visit His Holiness the Dalai Lama, our bipartisan delegation comes in his spirit of faith and peace. We come on this visit to be inspired by His Holiness and demonstrate our commitment to the Tibetan people, to their faith, their culture and their language,” Pelosi said.

“This is my home,” the Dalai Lama said holding Pelosi’s hand. He then corrected himself: “This is my second home. My real home – other side.”

He then reflected on his fate as a refugee, since fleeing from his homeland in 1959.

“Here the last 58 years I am the longest guest of Indian government,” the Dalai Lama said. “But, emotionally, some concern about deep inside Tibet, and also in China proper there are 400 million Buddhists.”

The visit comes at an awkward time for the U.S. president. During his presidential campaign, Trump had cast China as a trade adversary and currency manipulator, but he now wants President Xi Jinping’s support to restrain nuclear-armed North Korea. The Dalai Lama said he would be willing to visit China but this was not possible while Beijing still considered him a “dangerous splittist.”

After Trump’s stunning November defeat of Hillary Clinton, the Dalai Lama said he was keen to meet the incoming U.S. leader. It now looks unlikely the Nobel peace laureate will get a White House invite — an honor accorded by recent American presidents — anytime soon.

China took control of Tibet in 1950 in what it calls a “peaceful liberation” and has piled pressure on foreign governments to shun the Dalai Lama. Most recently, Beijing denounced New Delhi for hosting the Dalai Lama when he traveled to India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.