US urging early China talks with Dalai Lama

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday addressed the thorny issue of Tibet with China's Hu Jintao, saying he backs an early resumption of talks between Beijing and representatives of the Dalai Lama.

"We did note that while we recognise that Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China, the United States supports the early resumption of dialogue" between envoys of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader and Beijing, Obama said.

The Dalai Lama fled Chinese-ruled Tibet more than 50 years ago and is seen by Beijing as a separatist seeking independence for his Himalayan homeland -- an accusation that the Buddhist monk has vehemently denied.

China has repeatedly said the door was always open for dialogue with the Dalai Lama's representatives, but so far sporadic talks since 2002 have failed to make progress.

The Dalai Lama's office in his home in exile in the Indian hilltown of Dharamshala said the spiritual leader was willing to engage China in further dialogue in his quest for "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet.

"We are always willing to have talks with China and we hope both sides -- the Chinese as well as the Tibetans -- are true to their intentions," Chime Chhoekyapa, spokesman of the exiled Tibetan leader, told AFP by phone.

Following foreign pressure, two envoys of the Buddhist monk met Chinese officials in Beijing in July last year for the seventh round of dialogue.

The Dalai Lama has been living in India since he fled Tibet following a failed uprising in 1959 against Chinese rule, nine years after Chinese troops invaded the region.

In October, he made his first visit to Washington in 18 years that did not include a meeting with the US president.

Critics of Obama said he avoided an encounter so as not to upset Beijing before his high-stakes debut visit to China.

White House aides have said the two Nobel Peace Prize winners would meet at an "appropriate time" after the president's visit to China.

In the key policy speech of his nine-day Asia trip in Japan at the weekend, Obama did not specifically mention Tibet.