By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
WASHINGTON, Sep 12 (N.Y. Times) - White House officials said on Monday that President Clinton would not schedule a meeting with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled leader, during his current visit to Washington, in another sign of the administration's eagerness not to anger China while frayed relations are on the mend.
Instead, the White House said that Vice President Gore would meet with him on Wednesday, and that Clinton might drop in if he has time.
``The Chinese would clearly not be happy with such a meeting,'' an administration official said, in explaining why Clinton might not see the Dalai Lama this year after meeting with him during his 1993 and 1994 visits to Washington.
In the past, Chinese officials condemned Clinton for seeing the Tibetan Buddhist leader, complaining that such a move was improper interference in China's internal affairs. Beijing insists that Tibet is a part of China, and the Clinton administration supports that view, although it has repeatedly criticized China for violating human rights in Tibet.
The Dalai Lama, who has set up a government-in-exile in India, told reporters on Monday that the United States should work to improve its relations with China and work for democratic change there, in part because that would help Tibet's efforts to win autonomy and fight China's efforts to suppress Tibet an culture.
He urged the Clinton administration to press Beijing to start negotiations with him on granting Tibet ``genuine self-rule in association with China,'' although he took pains to say that he was not asking for negotiations on full independence. Tibet is now officially termed an "autonomous region" by Beijing.
Members of Congress quickly criticized Clinton's failure to schedule a meeting with the Tibetan leader.
``Just because our relations with China are a little shaky doesn't mean we should be kowtowing to them,'' said Sen. Craig Thomas, a Wyoming Republican who sponsored a resolution, approved last week, urging Clinton to meet the Tibetan leader. ``Not meeting with him would send the wrong signal. We're not going out of our way to offend China, but we have to protect our legitimate interests in human rights in Tibet.''
White House officials defended the decision not to arrange an Oval Office meeting, saying that it was little different from last year when a meeting was scheduled with Gore, and Clinton dropped in for 15 minutes.
But administration officials acknowledged that in debating whether to arrange a meeting, they were mindful of the way Chinese officials grew livid over Clinton's decision to grant Taiwan's president, Lee Teng-hui, a visa to attend an alumni reunion at Cornell University in June.
The Dalai Lama told reporters it would be ``OK'' if Clinton decided not to meet him, saying he always sought to avoid embarrassing his hosts.
But John Ackerley, director of the International Campaign for Tibet, was clearly dissatisfied.
``We would like something more than that,'' he said. ``We're somewhat surprised that President Bush, who was considered very soft on China, had an hourlong, one-to-one meeting with the Dalai Lama and that President Clinton, who came in with such bold statements on China, has not seen fit to have a one-to-one meeting.''
In 1950, Chinese troops took over, brushing aside Tibet's centuries-old assertion of independence. The Dalai Lama went into exile in 1959 after China suppressed a revolt. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for advocating the peaceful resolution of disputes, including that between Tibet and China.
Seeing to minimize any Chinese backlash to a meeting between Gore and the Tibetan leader, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kent Wiedemann said: ``We regard him as an internationally respected religious leader as well as one who deserves special admiration for his advocacy of peaceful resolution of disputes. We do not regard the Dalai Lama as a political figure or political leader. Any discussion that the administration has with the Dalai Lama does not in any way convey that we recognize the government-in-exile of Tibet.''
