Obama receives the Dalai Lama.
China viewed the meeting, which took place this Saturday at the White House, as a challenge.
U.S. President Barack Obama hosted the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, at the White House on Saturday, an official said, defying a warning from China that the meeting should be canceled. The meeting was arranged quickly over the weekend and announced at the last minute in an attempt to keep it out of the public eye.
Before the meeting, Obama touched on another point of direct interest to China: the United States' debt and the risk of default. The American president appealed for an understanding to be reached. "We have to ask everyone to assume their roles because we are all part of the same country," Obama said in his weekly radio and internet address, pressing for a package of spending cuts and tax increases that has faced strong resistance from the Republican opposition. "We are all in this together," the president declared.
Obama stated that the wealthiest Americans should "pay their fair share." "You brought us to Washington to do the hard things, the right things. Not just for some of us, but for all of us," he added.
However, as the August 2nd deadline approaches, the chances of Obama securing a deficit reduction of $4 trillion, or even $2 trillion, are rapidly diminishing as Congress moves to take control of the debate.
House Republicans are preparing to hold a vote next week to allow an increase in the debt ceiling through 2012, provided Congress approves a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget—which is very difficult.
In a speech today, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch argued in favor of the amendment and blamed Democrats for failing to agree on adequate budget cuts. "The solution to the spending crisis is not a tax increase," he declared. An amendment requiring a balanced budget "would put us on the path to fiscal health and prevent this administration or any future administration from imposing more debt on the American people," he said.
Obama held five consecutive meetings with congressional leaders this week, but none of the three proposed options—cutting the deficit by $4 trillion, $2 trillion, or $1,5 trillion over a 10-year period—gained enough support for a $2,4 trillion increase in the debt ceiling that Obama needs to stay in power until the 2012 elections.