The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader accepted the Congressional Gold Medal, lawmakers' highest civilian honor, in a formal ceremony in the US Capitol's ornate Rotunda, certain to further enrage leaders in Beijing.

Bush praised the 72-year-old Buddhist icon for keeping the "flame" of Tibet's people alive, and called on Beijing to open political talks with him about the region's future.

"They will find this good man to be a man of peace and reconciliation," Bush said in the decorous room beneath the soaring dome of the US Capitol building, watched by lawmakers, Tibetan exiles and Buddhist monks.

"Americans cannot look to the plight of the religiously oppressed and close our eyes or turn away," Bush said.

"That is why I will continue to urge the leaders of China to welcome the Dalai Lama to China," said the president, in a ceremony broadcast live to China by radio, television and the Internet by Voice of America.

The Dalai Lama reiterated that he was not seeking independence from China but wanted greater autonomy, and he said he was sorry that his presence in the United States had ruffled Sino-US relations.

"The consistency of American support for Tibet has not gone unnoticed in China," he said during the ceremony.

"Where this has caused some tension in the US-China relations I feel a sense of regret."

Bush had earlier provoked a fresh outburst of anger from Beijing, for his previous private meeting on Tuesday with the Dalai Lama, a style of encounter preferred by previous US presidents.

The Dalai Lama fled to India following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, and currently lives in the northern hill town of Dharamsala, which is also the seat of his government in exile.

China has ruled Tibet since sending troops into the region in 1950, and officially "liberating" it from feudal rule a year later.

Senate Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell paid tribute to Bush for appearing at a live public event with the Dalai Lama.

"US presidents have met privately with the Dalai Lama for years, but it wasn't until today that any of them had lent the prestige of the office to a public event," McConnell said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi had warned that Bush's private meeting with the Dalai Lama and the Congress ceremony represented "a severe violation of the norms of international relations."

He accused the United States of having "severely hurt" China's feelings and interfered in its internal affairs.

But Bush said that he had given advance notice to his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao about him attending the controversial ceremony honoring the Dalai Lama but the Chinese leader was unhappy about the move.

"I have consistently told the Chinese that religious freedom is in their nation's interest," said Bush.

Past Congressional Gold Medal winners include former South African president Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk, tough-guy Western actor John Wayne, singer Frank Sinatra, and the late pope John Paul II.

Top Democratic and Republican leaders of the US Senate and House of Representatives, as well as Holocaust author Elie Wiesel, made remarks at the Congress ceremony. Hollywood star Richard Gere, long a campaigner for human rights in Tibet, was also there.

earlier related report
China hits out at US over Dalai Lama
China unleashed a fresh verbal tirade at the United States on Wednesday over the Dalai Lama's warm reception in Washington, but analysts said threats of seriously damaged ties were overstated.

After US President George W. Bush defied warnings from Beijing and met the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader privately on Tuesday, China hit out at what it termed a "gross interference" in its internal affairs.

"China is strongly resentful of this and resolutely opposes it, and has made solemn representations to the US side," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Later Wednesday, the United States was set to anger China further with Bush handing the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal -- the highest civilian award the Congress can bestow -- at a lavish awards ceremony in Washington.

The ceremony will be the first time a sitting US president has appeared in public with the Dalai Lama, who fled his homeland in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said on Tuesday that the Dalai Lama's meeting with Bush and the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony represented "a severe violation of the norms of international relations."

Spokesman Liu warned Tuesday that Sino-US ties would be seriously damaged by the celebration of the Dalai Lama -- whom China accuses of wanting independence for his homeland -- and the state-run press on Wednesday kept up the pressure.

"This event will certainly cast a shadow over the (China-US) relations. The US side must be held responsible for the consequences," the state-run China Daily newspaper said in an editorial.

US officials said China had already showed its anger at the encounter with Bush by postponing a planned meeting of world powers Wednesday in Berlin aimed at discussing the Iran nuclear crisis.

China has also directed similar fury at Germany, Australia and other Western countries in recent months after their leaders met the Dalai Lama.

But Tao Changsong, a researcher at China's Tibetan Association of Social Science in the Himalayan region's capital, Lhasa, said the Dalai Lama's trip to Washington was unlikely to have a major long-term impact on Sino-US ties.

"These kind of events happen all the time due to the different interests of different nations, only this time it involves the president (Bush) so China has to express itself more angrily," Tao said.

"However, Sino-US relations in principle won't be affected very much because China needs a stable environment for its development, which is what can change the lives of Chinese people including in Tibet."

Asked whether China would allow the issue to impact trade, Tao said: "International trade has its own rules. China will abide by trading rules when dealing with its trade partners."

Daniel Sneider, an Asia Pacific specialist at Stanford University in the United States, described China's reaction as a routine affair, rather than an indicator of permanent damage between the two nations.

"It seems more likely to me that (China is) going through the motions of protest more for their own domestic audience than for any outside audience," Sneider said.

After Australian Prime Minister John Howard met the Dalai Lama in June, China also expressed outrage.

But Chinese President Hu Jintao then visited Australia in September and met Howard, and the trip saw the two nations sign multi-billion-dollar energy deals.

China has ruled Tibet, a devoutly Buddhist land, since sending troops into the region in 1950, officially "liberating" it a year later.

The Dalai Lama insists he only wants limited autonomy for Tibet, and not independence.

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