Brussels: Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama met Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme today, the latest leg of a European tour which has upset Beijing and led to the postponement of a China-EU summit.

The Nobel peace Laureate will address the European Parliament in Brussels tomorrow and is scheduled to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU s presidency, in Poland on Saturday.

In response, China has scrapped a summit with the European Union in France.

China has for many years opposed foreign leaders meeting the Dalai Lama, who it maintains is trying to win independence for his Himalayan homeland that has been under Chinese rule since 1951.

The Dalai Lama in turn insists he only wants meaningful autonomy for Tibet under Chinese rule.

The meeting with Leterme was a 25-minute courtesy call at the prime minister's official residence, a Belgian government spokesman said.

"He was received as a spiritual figure. What was said will remain between them," he added.

The showpiece of the 73-year-old Buddhist leader s visit to Brussels will be tomorrow's speech in front of the European Parliament, as part of the chamber's year of intercultural dialogue

Later in the day he will visit the Belgian parliament where he will meet the senators and deputies who wish to see him but is not due to address the chamber formally.

EU Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said he would be in Luxembourg and therefore wouldn't meet the Dalai Lama, while stressing that he did meet the Tibetan spiritual leader during his last visit to Brussels in 2006.

Source : PTI