WASHINGTON, April 17 (AFP) - Tibet's exiled spiritual leader and China's nemesis, the Dalai Lama, plans to visit here next week, and organizers are hoping he'll get an audience with US President Bill Clinton.

The Clinton administration hasn't confirmed any meetings yet between the Nobel laureate and any senior officials, said a spokesman for the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), which is organizing the visit.

But congressional leaders who support the Dalai Lama's efforts to preserve Tibetan culture have written to Clinton to ask for a formal visit, (ICT) spokesman Bhuchung Tsering said.

"They usually let us know about these things at the last minute," Tsering said on Thursday.

Wary of provoking China, whose official media use equally colorful insults for the Dalai Lama and Taiwan leaders, the White House has in the past arranged for the Tibetan leader to meet formally with the vice president -- with Clinton "dropping in" to pay his respects.

That is the formula the White House has said it will use on Friday when Hong Kong Democratic Party leader Martin Lee, also a perennial thorn in Beijing's side, pays his visit.

Members of the Republican-run Congress, less cautious about irking the Asian giant, have meanwhile arranged a number of meetings for themselves with the ranking leader of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Dalai Lama is expected to meet with senior members of both political parties, including Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jesse Helms and House International Relations Committee chairman Ben Gilman.

Here from Monday through Thursday, the Dalai Lama will take part in the Third World Parliamentarians Convention on Tibet, where legislators from around the world will coordinate strategies to help the Himalayan territory, ICT said.

Along with US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and Northern Ireland peace activist Mairead Maguire, he will lead an interfaith gathering at the opulent National Cathedral late Thursday.

That event, ICT said, is dedicated to the Panchen Lama -- the second-highest leader of Tibetan Buddhism, whom China has held in detention since 1995. It will occur on the eve of the Panchen Lama's eighth birthday.