China warned President Barack Obama on Tuesday not to meet the Dalai Lama, saying any such meeting would harm bilateral relations.

An Obama meeting with the Dalai Lama would "seriously undermine the political foundation of Sino-U.S. relations," said Zhu Weiqun, executive deputy head of the Communist Party's United Front Work Department in charge of recent talks with the exiled Tibetan leader's envoys.

Zhu was speaking at a news conference where he said no progress had been made at the talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama on changes to the Himalayan region's status.

The warning to Obama comes after signals from U.S. officials in recent weeks that Obama might soon meet the exiled Tibetan leader - something Chinese officials are keen to avoid before President Hu Jintao travels to Washington, possibly in April.

Zhu said any arguments that the Dalai Lama was just a religious figure were wrong, calling the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate the "head of a separatist group."

No date for Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama has been announced, but White House spokesman Mike Hammer said last month that "the President has made clear to the Chinese government that we intend to meet with the Dalai Lama, it has been his every intention."

Bilateral relations have already been strained by the U.S. announcement Friday that it planned to sell $6.4 billion worth of arms to Taiwan.

Beijing quickly suspended military exchanges with Washington and announced an unprecedented threat of sanctions against the U.S. companies involved in the sale.

Zhu did not give any details on what China would do if Obama meets the Dalai Lama. "We will take corresponding measures to make the relevant countries realize their mistakes."

Representatives of the United Front meet over the weekend with two Tibetan envoys for their first talks in 15 months, but Zhu said China would discuss only the future of the exiled spiritual leader - not any greater autonomy for Tibet.

"There is no room for negotiation or concession on the part of the central government on these issues," Zhu said.

China maintains that Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries, but many Tibetans say the region was functionally independent for much of its history.

At the last talks in 2008, the Dalai Lama's envoys proposed a way for Tibetans to achieve more autonomy under the Chinese constitution - a key demand of the minority community. But China apparently rejected the plan, saying it would not allow Tibet the kind of latitude granted to the territories of Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese officials said they were only willing to discuss the return of the Dalai Lama, who fled to exile in 1959.

The Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharmsala, India, said last week it hoped the two sides would be able to revisit the proposal for greater autonomy.

Beijing demonizes the Dalai Lama and says he seeks to destroy China's sovereignty by pushing independence for Tibet. The Dalai Lama has maintained for decades he wants some form of autonomy that would allow Tibetans to freely practice their culture, language and religion under China's rule, not independence.

Tibetan areas have been tense in recent years, with the minority community complaining about restrictions on Buddhism, government propaganda campaigns against their revered Dalai Lama, and an influx of Chinese migrants that leave Tibetans feeling marginalized. Those feelings boiled over in deadly anti-Chinese riots in 2008 that shocked Beijing's leaders.

By GILLIAN WONG Associated Press Writer
Published: Monday, February 1, 2010 at 7:41 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, February 1, 2010 at 7:41 p.m.

Internet giant Google says it may end its operations in China after hackers targeted the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

It said it had found a "sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China".

It did not specifically accuse China's government but said it was no longer willing to censor its Chinese site's results, as the government requires.

Google says the decision may mean it has to shut the site, set up in 2006.

Phishing scam

Shortly after the news was announced, shares in Google fell by 1.9% to $579 (£358) in after-hours trading in New York.

Google's David Drummond said: "A primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists."
The company said its investigation into the attack found two Gmail accounts appeared to have been accessed.

However, activity was limited to account information such as the date the account was created and subject line, rather than e-mail content, it said.

It said it had also discovered that the accounts of dozens of US, China and Europe-based Gmail users, who are "advocates of human rights in China", appeared to have been "routinely accessed by third parties".

It said these accounts had not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but "most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on users' computers".

At least 20 other large companies from a wide range of businesses were similarly targeted, it added.

Google said it would hold talks with the Chinese government in the coming weeks to look at operating an unfiltered search engine within the law.

The decision, it said, had been "incredibly hard" and was made by company executives in the US, not employees in China.

BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones said the attacks, coupled with further attempts to limit free speech, had led Google to reconsider its position.

"If, as seems likely, the government refuses to allow it to operate an uncensored service, then Google will pull out.

"That will leave other overseas web companies operating in China with difficult decisions to make," he added.

Google first launched in China four years ago after agreeing to censor some search results.

The move led to accusations it had betrayed its company motto - "don't be evil" but Google argued it would be more damaging for civil liberties if it pulled out of China entirely.

Phone apps based on the teachings of the Dalai Lama don't exist on the Chinese incarnation of iTunes, it has emerged, demonstrating that even Apple has to bend to do business in China.

Protects Great firewall of China from 'devil'

Given the Chinese government's rejection of the Dalai Lama's authority it's no surprise that his only appearance in the Chinese iTunes store is a passing mention in the Buddhist Glossary. In the UK store there are half a dozen apps presenting his quotes and teachings, but it's hard to imagine an Al Qaeda application lasting long over here given our own government's thoughts on radicalisation.