by Sarah Jackson-Han

WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (AFP) - As America's rich and powerful feted Chinese President Jiang Zemin at an opulent White House dinner, an unusual alliance in decidedly more modest garb gathered nearby to celebrate the culture of Tibet.

Billed as a "stateless dinner" an allusion to the thousands of Tibetans exiled in northern India the event drew glitterati of a different sort to a hotel just one block from the White House.

"The more my devotion deepens, I just can't discuss it without crying," Hollywood heartthrob Richard Gere, an effusive follower of the Dalai Lama, told some 200 people gathered to hear his opening toast.

"I want to dedicate this to the people who are not here (and) the 1.2 billion Chinese who have no representation," he said, flanked by a painting of the exiled Buddhist leader's Potala Palace.

Gere's toast came after the room joined in choruses of the Tibetan national anthem and before a middle-aged man rose to the stage to play what he called a "Tibetan prayer and drinking song" on a traditional guitar.

Several members of Congress were also on hand, including Senators Patrick Moynihan and Paul Wellstone and Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Chris Cox, as well as an odd juxtaposition of left and right-wing activists.

In the latter group was Gary Bauer, head of the Christian conservative Family Research Council, which joined the China debate for the first time this year by pressing for an end to Beijing's US trade privileges.

"I think we've been quite successful this week" in getting human rights issues on the agenda, Bauer commented between toasts.

"I feel very strongly that this whole debate is about America, and whether we have the courage to apply our principles to our foreign policy," he added, echoing sentiments shared by the left-wing AFL-CIO labor lobby.

The cause of Tibet, a Himalayan territory annexed and occupied by China in the 1950s, has received a boost of publicity from three new anti-China movies.

They are "Red Corner," starring Richard Gere; "Seven Years in Tibet," starring Brad Pitt as the Dalai Lama's Austrian tutor; and the forthcoming "Kundun," a biographical film about the exiled spiritual leader.

White House staff were meanwhile pulling out all the stops a block away to lay on an elegant spread for the visiting Chinese head of state and his entourage, along with a "who's who" list of corporate chieftains.

Two hundred and thiry-two people were expected to dine in the gold-decorated East Room, including the consummate A-list of industrial heavyweights: CEOs, for example, from ATetT, IBM, Xerox, Boeing, and Walt Disney Co.

They joined a star-studded cast of Asian-Americans, including novelist Amy Tan, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Cho-Liang Lin, designer Vera Wang, and AIDS researcher David Ho.