Obama to meet Dalai, China warns it will damage bilateral ties

The Tibetan issue is a domestic affair for China, she said, adding that there is no other country which bears the right to interfere.

The arranged meeting is an unjustified interference with China's domestic affairs and a serious violation of the principles of international relations, and will cause great damage to China-US relations, Hua warned.  

“We urge United States to take China's concerns seriously and cancel the relevant meeting and do not provide platform for Dalai's separatist activities in the US,” Hua told a media briefing in Beijing.

Asked how China will respond if Obama went ahead with the meeting, she said China is firmly opposed to any foreign leaders meeting the Dalai Lama.

“I also want to stress that any country if it is bent on China's interests then it will find that its own interests can get hurt in the very end. Therefore we urge the US government to immediately cancel the relevant meeting so as to avoid damaging China-US relations,” she said.  

Obama and the Dalai Lama - both Nobel Peace Prize laureates - have met twice before, in 2010 and 2011, which drew similar protests from China.