The dinner was hosted by Verma on January 15 for his visiting friend and Hollywood actor Richard Gere, in what may signal prominence to the Tibet issue in international fora.
The high-profile event was also attended by officials from both India and the US, besides a few Tibetan leaders.
Rijiju, Minister of State for Home Affairs, tweeted about the January 15 event yesterday along with a picture showing Sangay and Gere among others.
"Both of them are great friends of India and contributed a lot in many areas," the minister said.
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Reacting to the event, Chinese Foreign Ministry told PTI in Beijing that "No country in the world recognises the so-called Tibetan government-in-exile".
"We are firmly against any country's official contact with it in any form, and resolutely opposed to any country's interference in China's internal affairs by using Tibet- related issues as an excuse," the Foreign Ministry said.
In October last year, China had objected to Verma's visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh which Beijing claims as southern Tibet, saying any interference by Washington in the Sino-India boundary dispute will make it "more complicated" and "disturb" hard-won peace at the border.
Last month, China took strong exception to the Dalai Lama's meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan during a children's summit.
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