FT Chronicle

BEIJING (AP) — China has responded sharply to President Barack Obama’s plan to meet this month with Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, saying it is “resolutely” opposed to any such contact.

China accuses the Dalai Lama of pushing for Tibetan independence, which he denies.

The United States confirmed on Thursday that Obama would meet the Dalai Lama in Washington in the middle of this month.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement late Friday that “China resolutely opposes the visit by the Dalai Lama to the United States, and resolutely opposes US leaders having contact with the Dalai Lama.”

Bilateral relations have already been strained by the U.S. announcement Friday that it planned to sell $6.4 billion worth of arms to Taiwan.

Beijing quickly suspended military exchanges with Washington and announced an unprecedented threat of sanctions against the U.S. companies involved in the sale.

China is very sensitive to any meetings that the India-based Dalai Lama, the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has with government leaders, calling them interference in its internal affairs.
Every US president in the last two decades has met with the Dalai Lama.