China said today a possible meeting between US president Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama would hurt trust between the two countries.
Zhu Weiqun, a vice minister of the United Front Work Department of China's ruling Communist Party, told a news conference that his government would vehemently oppose any meeting between Mr Obama and the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader who Beijing deems a dangerous separatist.
"If that comes to pass, then China will be strongly opposed as always," Mr Zhu said of the possible meeting. A meeting "would be totally at odds with international accepted practices and would seriously undermine the political basis of Sino-US relations", he added.
There has been widespread speculation that Mr Obama will meet the Dalai Lama when the Tibetan Buddhist monk visits the United States in coming months. The White House has not publicly confirmed any such meeting.
But even a brief symbolic encounter between the US leader and the Dalai Lama would anger Beijing, which has recently threatened sanctions against US companies over proposals to sell $6.4 billion of weapons to Taiwan, the disputed island that China treats as an illegitimate breakaway province.
The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, recognising "one China". But it remains Taiwan's biggest backer and is obliged by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to help in the island's defence.
The Dalai Lama has said he wants a high level of genuine autonomy for his homeland, which he fled in 1959. China says that his demands amount to pressing for outright independence.
China recently hosted talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama, but those talks achieved little.
Reuters