IN THE latest high-profile display of irritation with Washington, a top Chinese official has warned the US that a widely expected meeting between Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama would hurt trust between the two countries.
Relations are already strained over Washington’s decision to go ahead with arms sales to Taiwan, and the row over Mr Obama meeting the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, who Beijing sees as a dangerous separatist, is the latest episode in a fraught few weeks for diplomacy between Washington and Beijing.
Tibet and Taiwan, as well as restive Xinjiang in the far west, are viewed by China as inalienable parts of its territory and any moves to deny that are not tolerated. The hard line by Beijing on these issues could be a sign of it flexing its muscles as a rising superpower.
The US and China, respectively the world’s biggest and third biggest economies, have also been at loggerheads over China’s currency and internet censorship. The latest outraged remarks came from Zhu Weiqun, a vice-minister of the united front work department of China’s ruling Communist Party, which handles party policy on religious and ethnic issues.
He said China would vehemently oppose any meeting between Mr Obama and the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader.
The US side would violate international rules by making such a decision, he said, and this would be an irrational and harmful move that would “seriously undermine the political basis of Sino-US relations . . . if a country decides to do so, we will take necessary measures to help them realise this,” said Mr Zhu.
“If the US leader chooses this time to meet the Dalai Lama, that would damage trust and co-operation between our two countries, and how would that help the United States surmount the current economic crisis?” said Mr Zhu. China’s robust economy in the face of global slowdown has played an important role in stopping the world sinking into a deeper economic mire.
No meeting has been announced or confirmed, but there has been widespread speculation that Mr Obama will meet the Dalai Lama when he visits the US in coming months.
The Dalai Lama has said he wants a high level of genuine autonomy for his homeland, which he fled in 1959. China says that his demands amount to pressing for outright independence. The Dalai Lama row comes hot on the heels of another diplomatic spat in which Beijing threatened sanctions against US companies over proposals to sell billions of dollars worth of weapons to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that it considers a breakaway province.
The US switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, recognising “one China”, and Mr Obama said he recognised the importance of the “One China Policy” to mainland China. But it remains Taiwan’s biggest backer and is obliged by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to help in the island’s defence.