The already strained ties between the US and China could worsen further if President Obama goes ahead with a meeting with the Dalai Lama, Beijing warned today.

China’s anger at the Tibetan spiritual leader’s overseas visits and the warm reception he is afforded by foreign leaders spilled over in tough words from officials in Beijing who led the latest round of talks with his representatives last week.

Zhu Weiqun, executive deputy head of the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, who is in charge of the talks, said that a meeting between Mr Obama and the Dalai Lama would “seriously undermine the political foundation of Sino-US relations”.

An increasingly assertive Beijing even issued a veiled threat that such a meeting would not only fail to serve the interests of diplomacy but could damage the US economic recovery. A view has become widespread that the strength of the economic revival in China, the largest holder of US treasuries, could help to lead the world out of the current downturn.

He added that the Dalai Lama was a troublemaker bent on inciting world hatred of China for its control of his mountainous homeland.

Mr Zhu gave no details of how China would retaliate if President Obama met the monk, whom Beijing views as a dangerous separatist working to win independence for the Himalayan homeland he fled in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Beijing rule.

He said: “We will take corresponding measures to make the relevant countries realise their mistakes.”

President Obama could meet the Dalai Lama as early as this month, when the monk is expected to make a visit to the United States from his home in the north Indian town of Dharamsala.

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