China lodges representation with US over Obama-Dalai Lama meeting

China has lodged diplomatic representations with the US over a planned meeting between President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama at the White House, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Obama and the Dalai Lama will meet privately in the Map Room at 10.15 a.m. (local time) on Wednesday, Xinhua reported.

"The Chinese Foreign Ministry has already made a representation to the US embassy in China," spokesman Lu Kang said. "China firmly opposes the meeting."

If the US goes through with such a meeting, it will send the wrong signal to Tibet separatist forces and harm China-US mutual trust and cooperation, Lu said.

"Tibet affairs are China's domestic affairs and no foreign country has the right to interfere," he said.

Lu said the 14th Dalai Lama is not a purely religious figure, but a political exile who has long engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the guise of religion.

China demands the US side keep its commitment of recognising that Tibet is an internal part of China, and not support "Tibet-independence", or separatist forces, he said.

Any attempt to harm China's stability by using issues related to Tibet will not succeed, Lu said.

--IANS

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