LONDON: Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday he will meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, a move welcomed by pro-Tibet activists but which could strain ties with Beijing.
The meeting could in theory take place in May when the Dalai Lama is due in London for another event, although Brown's office could not confirm the pair would meet then.
Brown's confirmation came after he spoke by phone to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and pressed him to end violence in Tibet, which has triggered a swift clampdown by Chinese authorities.
Brown said the Chinese premier had assured him he was willing to hold talks with the Dalai Lama under two conditions.
"I made it absolutely clear that there had to be an end to violence in Tibet... I called for an end to the violence by dialogue between the different parties," he told parliament in a weekly question period.
"The premier told me that, subject to two things that the Dalai Lama has already said -- that he does not support the total independence of Tibet, and that he renounces violence -- that he would be prepared to enter into dialogue with the Dalai Lama."
"I will meet the Dalai Lama when he is in London," he added.
A Downing Street spokesman could not say when the Dalai Lama might be coming, but the Tibetan leader is due to be in London on May 22 for an event at the Royal Albert Hall, a spokeswoman from the Tibet Society UK said.
The talks would be the Dalai Lama's first with Brown since the prime minister took office last June. His predecessor Tony Blair was criticised when he declined to meet the Dalai Lama in 2004.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel triggered a deep freeze in relations between Berlin and Beijing for several months after she met the exiled Tibetan leader in her chancellery offices in September last year.
Tibetan campaigners, including Matt Whitticase of the Free Tibet movement, welcomed Brown's announcement.
"We welcome the fact he will see him, although we do want to assess the substance of the meeting and whether it is going to take place in a public place, like any other leader of a recognised country," he said.
Tibetan Drol Kar, an exiled former prisoner, added: "It's really good news for Tibet... But we would like Gordon Brown not just to meet the Dalai Lama, but also to put pressure on China to stop the oppression in Tibet."
Brown said the overriding aim was to curtail the violence.
"The most important thing at the moment is to bring about an end to the violence, reconciliation, and to see legitimate talks taking place beetwen those peoples in China," he said.
An aide of the Dalai Lama said Wednesday that he wants talks between his government-in-exile and China to resume and is committed to a non-violent settlement of the Tibet issue.
Wen said Tuesday that Beijing was willing to hold talks, but only after the Dalai Lama gave up what is viewed in China as a campaign for the remote mountainous region to be granted independence.
Tibet has seen deadly protests and rioting over the past week, and the Himalayan region has been subjected to a tough security clampdown.
