Dalai Lama

BEIJING, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Chinese officials warned of additional stresses to relations between Beijing and Washington should U.S. President Barack Obama meet with the Dalai Lama.

Obama delayed meeting with the Tibetan Buddhist leader once before when the Dalai Lama was in the United States just before the president was to travel to China. It was the first time a sitting U.S. president didn't meet with the Dalai Lama when he visited the United States.

Beijing considers the Dalai Lama the leader of a movement to remove Tibet as a part of China. He lives in self-imposed exile and has spoken against what he has called the "cultural genocide" of Tibet.

Chinese Communist Party official Zhu Weigun Tuesday said, "If the U.S. leader chooses this time to meet the Dalai Lama, that would damage trust and cooperation between our two countries and how would that help the United States surmount the current economic crisis?"

China holds more U.S. debt than any other nation with nearly $800 billion in U.S. securities. It is also one of the country's largest trading partners.

The Dalai Lama issue comes after Beijing lashed at a U.S. plan to sell more than $6 billion in arms to Taiwan, which China sees as a breakaway province. Beijing threatened to halt military ties with the United States and sanction companies that manufacture arms sent to Taiwan.