**China has expressed “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to the meeting between US President Obama and the Dalai Lama.**China views Tibet’s spiritual leader as a separatist and said the US should “take effective steps to eradicate the malign effects” of the meeting.
It summoned the US ambassador in Beijing in protest about the meeting.
Washington kept the Dalai Lama’s meeting low-key to emphasis it was private rather than political.
The Vice-Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai summoned Ambassador Jon Huntsman to lodge a “solemn representation”"
“The behaviour of the US side seriously interferes in China’s internal politics and seriously hurts the national feelings of the Chinese people,” a ministry statement said.
China never reacts well to these meetings, which have been taking place for nearly two decades, says the BBC’s Quentin Sommerville, in Beijing.
The meetings highlight Beijing’s terrible human rights record, and remind the world that many Tibetans are deeply unhappy with China’s heavy-handed rule in Tibet, he adds.
The White House meeting was held amid recent tensions, mainly over a US arms sale to Taiwan and allegations of Chinese cyber-spying.
MARDELL’S AMERICA
“The real test of US-China relations will not be the Dalai Lama but what happens on sanctions against Iran”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement that the meeting between President Obama and the exiled Tibetan leader “violated the US government’s repeated acceptance that Tibet is a part of China and it does not support Tibetan independence”.
He added: “Use concrete actions to promote the healthy and stable development of Sino-US relations.”
During the low-key meeting, President Obama expressed his “strong support” for Tibetan rights, his spokesman said.
The closed talks were held at the White House’s Map Room instead of the more official Oval Office, in an attempt to signal to China that it was a private, not a political meeting.
Mr Obama praised the Dalai Lama’s commitment to non-violence and “his pursuit of dialogue with the Chinese government,” the spokesman said.
US-CHINA TENSIONS
- Google - China denies being behind an alleged cyber attack on the US search engine
- Taiwan - a US sale of $6.4bn (£4bn) of defensive arms to Taiwan has angered Beijing
- Tibet - China says a US meeting with the Dalai Lama would “undermine relations”
- Trade - rows over imports and exports of meat, media, car tyres and raw materials
- Iran - the US fears China will not back tougher sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme
- Climate - the US is disappointed at China’s tough position at the Copenhagen Summit
The Dalai Lama told reporters outside the White House that he expressed to the president his admiration for the US as a “champion of democracy, freedom, human values” and creativity.
The White House had defended the decision to receive the Dalai Lama, saying he was “an internationally respected religious leader”.
China, which sent troops into Tibet in 1950 but has long claimed it as its own, considers the Dalai Lama a separatist. Beijing tries to isolate the spiritual leader by asking foreign leaders not to see him.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule and has since been living in India.
The Dalia Lama has met every sitting US president since 1991, with each visit drawing Chinese ire.
But George W Bush’s meeting with the Dalai Lama in 2007 was the first time a sitting US president had appeared in public with the exiled Tibetan leader.
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