--- title: Exclusive: Dalai Lama Will Attend 2015 National Prayer Breakfast description: Tibetan leader will participate in the Feb. 5 National Prayer Breakfast where the President is expected to attend. Obama has never appeared publicly with Tibetan leader who is viewed by the Chinese government as a dissident canonical: https://time.com/3687508/dalai-lama-prayer-breakfast/ author: Elizabeth Dias article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-29T15:41:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:05:58.423Z article:section: Politics og:title: Exclusive: Dalai Lama Will Attend 2015 National Prayer Breakfast og:description: Tibetan leader will participate in the Feb. 5 National Prayer Breakfast where the President is expected to attend. Obama has never appeared publicly with Tibetan leader who is viewed by the Chinese government as a dissident og:url: https://time.com/3687508/dalai-lama-prayer-breakfast/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebfd0e37807f4c1a/69877c7f55a8592fe6a8584a/dalai-lama-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Dalai Lama White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Exclusive: Dalai Lama Will Attend 2015 National Prayer Breakfast twitter:description: Tibetan leader will participate in the Feb. 5 National Prayer Breakfast where the President is expected to attend. Obama has never appeared publicly with Tibetan leader who is viewed by the Chinese government as a dissident twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebfd0e37807f4c1a/69877c7f55a8592fe6a8584a/dalai-lama-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Exclusive: Dalai Lama, Barack Obama Set to Appear in Public Together for First Time > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Elizabeth Dias](https://time.com/author/elizabeth-dias/) ## Elizabeth Dias Jan 29, 2015 3:41 PM UTC  The Dalai Lama leaves the White House, following a meeting with President Barack Obama, in Washington on Feb. 18, 2010. The Dalai Lama leaves the White House, following a meeting with President Barack Obama, in Washington on Feb. 18, 2010. Manuel Balce Ceneta—AP by [Elizabeth Dias](https://time.com/author/elizabeth-dias/) ## Elizabeth Dias Jan 29, 2015 3:41 PM UTC The Dalai Lama will attend this year’s National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 5, marking the first time that the Tibetan leader will appear in public at an event that President Obama is expected to also attend, according to a press aide for Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, who is co-chair of the event. “The Dalai Lama will be at the breakfast, but he does not have a speaking role,” Casey aide Alex Miller tells TIME in an email. The White House did not immediately confirm the report. President Obama has previously met with the Dalai Lama three times, despite the strong objections of the Chinese government who considers the Tibetan leader a dissident. In the past, the White House has not allowed reporters to witness the meetings, which have been staged outside the Oval Office in deference to Chinese objections. The National Prayer Breakfast is an annual, historically Christian event at the Washington Hilton for hundreds of mostly evangelical and other faith leaders. The President of the United States and First Lady have long attended, and the President traditionally speaks. Following the Dalai Lama’s last private meeting with Obama in 2014, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui summoned a U.S. diplomat to register his nation’s objections. “The Tibetan issue is the domestic affair of China, and the United States bears no right to interfere,” he said, according to the Xinhua news agency. “Such a move will gravely sabotage China-US co-operation and relations, and will definitely undermine its own interests.” Senator Casey (D., Pa.) and Senator Roger Wicker (R., Miss.) are co-chairing the congressional side of this year’s event. The breakfast is sponsored by a conservative evangelical group, the Fellowship, run by Douglas Coe. Christians have usually given the keynote address, but last year, U.S. Agency for International Development administrator Rajiv Shah, a Hindu, spoke. ### PHOTOS: Go Behind the Scenes with the Secret Service  Secret Service agents stand guard around President Bush's Limousine on the tarmac as he arrives in Kansas City, Mo., Jan. 25, 2007. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Secret Service agents surround U.S. President Barack Obama at a campaign event in Las Vegas on Nov. 1, 2012. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  A Secret Service agent watches the crowd as President Barrack Obama speaks in Holmdel, N.J. on July 16, 2009. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  U.S. President George W. Bush attends a campaign rally in the town square of Troy, Ohio, on Aug. 28, 2004. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Secret Service agents watch as President George W. Bush lands in Philadelphia on March 15, 2004. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Secret Service agents watch as U.S. President George W. Bush arrives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Nov. 3, 2006. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  A Presidential limousine is loaded onto a C5 military transport plane bound for eastern Europe, where President Bush is headed next week. A "secure package" of motorcade vehicles, including the limousines and a fleet of Secret Service SUVs is transported to the site of every presidential visit, Maryland, March 28, 2008. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  A Secret Service agent stands guard in front of President George W Bush's vehicle, while he tours rebuilding efforts in a neighborhood affected by Hurricane Katrina, in Long Beach, Miss. on March 1, 2007. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  A Secret Service agent with the Counter Assault and Tactical Division holds a loaded weapon in front of the North Portico of the White House in Washington, Oct. 28, 2009. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Members of the Counter Asault Division of the US Secret Service keep an eye on the crowd as President Barack Obama departs the Annual Legislative Conference of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington on March 10, 2009. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  A uniformed secret service agent waits for the arrival of President Bush and Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on the North Portico of the White House in Washington on Oct. 13, 2008. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Secret Service agents stand near the Presidential Limousine at the conclusion of a campaign rally attended by President Bush in an airport hanger in Sugar Land, Texas on Oct. 30, 2006. 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