Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will visit United States President-elect Donald Trump after his inauguration, he told reporters on Wednesday.
“I think there are some problems to go to United States, so I will go to see the new President,” the Dalai Lama said at the conclusion of his four-day visit to Mongolia.
In September, the Dalai Lama infamously impersonated Trump in a video shared widely, in which he mimicked his hair style and mannerisms.
A potential meeting is likely to anger the Chinese government which has previously expressed its disapproval about the Dalai Lama’s meetings with world leaders.
Outgoing US President Barack Obama met with the spiritual leader four times during his presidency.
Beijing considers the Dalai Lama part of a Tibetan separatist movement.
Speaking to reporters in Ulaanbaatar, the Dalai Lama said he still considered the United States a leading nation in the “free world.”
He suggested he wasn’t concerned about Trump’s rhetoric during the campaign.
“Sometimes I feel during the election, the candidate has more freedom to express,” he said, adding once in power all Presidents were forced to work with “reality.”
