China today warned US president Barack Obama against meeting Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, saying this would "seriously undermine" Sino-US ties as a row escalated between the two major powers.
"A meeting between Obama and the Dalai Lama would seriously undermine the political foundation of Sino-US relations," Zhu Weiqun, Chinese executive vice minister for relations with Foreign Countries said.
His comments come as the Tibetan spiritual leader is to undertake a 10-day visit to the US from Feb 16 during which he is likely to meet Obama.
The fresh objections by Beijing are likely to fuel more differences between the two countries, already at loggerheads over Chinese objections to US arms sale to Taiwan with Beijing threatening sanctions against American companies.
Zhu said China and the representatives of the Dalai lama were "sharply divided" indicating that no progress had been made on the Tibetan issue in the latest round of talks which concluded on Sunday.
Charging that Dalai Lama's frequent international visits were aimed at seeking foreign support, Zhu said he "already plays a role of a trouble maker".
He asked the Tibetan spiritual leader to "restrain his words and deeds against the central government," state-run news agency Xinhua quoted him as saying.
Zhu was speaking at a press conference called to give details of the meeting between China and special envoys of the Dalai Lama.
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