The Dalai Lama: The great communicator

The Dalai Lama is a tireless traveler who maintains good relations with the international community. The spiritual leader does not have much power, but he uses his close ties to politicians, celebrities and leaders for the cause of Tibetan autonomy. But meeting with the Dalai Lama can be tricky for world leaders because of the likelihood of straining relations with China.

The Dalai Lama's reception in 2007, hosted by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, was much resented by the Chinese government and was even criticized by some German politicians. In May 2008, German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek –Zeul informally met the Dalai Lama outside his official residence shortly after the riots in Lhasa.

The Tibetan leader's sense of humor is as legendary as his laughter. Here, the Dalai Lama is seen conversing with the Archbishop of South Africa, Desmond Tutu, at a conference in Seattle in 2008.

During his years as premier of the German state of Hesse, conservative politician Roland Koch was notorious for his tough anti-immigration stance. But this did not hinder his close friendship with the Dalai Lama, whom he invited several times. In this 2009 picture, Koch greets the Dalai Lama near Frankfurt with traditional warmth.

Here, during a 2005 gala event at the Kurhaus Wiesbaden, the Dalai Lama accompanies his longest-standing friend Heinrich Harrer off the stage. The Austrian mountaineer got to know the Dalai Lama in Lhasa in 1946 after having escaped from a British internment camp in India. Harrer later became the Dalai Lama's teacher. He died in Carinthia, Austria, aged 94.

France's former "première dame" Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and the Dalai Lama met at the inauguration of a Buddhist temple in southern France. But much to the regret of human rights activists, then French President Nicolas Sarkozy didn't receive the Dalai Lama during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

China's attempt to involve the Dalai Lama in the "liberation" of Tibet failed. Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong is shown here in Beijing as the "protector" of the two highest Tibetan dignitaries, the Dalai (R) and the Panchen Lama. The picture was taken in 1956, three years before the Dalai Lama fled to India.

At the beginning of 2014, US President Obama invited the Dalai Lama to a "private meeting" at the White House. Although the talks didn't take place in the Oval Office – which is usually used to host foreign dignitaries – it was the third meeting between the two men. Beijing warned that it would regard the meeting as a "gross interference in China's internal affairs."