The criticism, voiced by He Yafei, deputy foreign minister, came amid a wave of fiercely nationalistic rhetoric against France and renewed calls for a boycott of French products from commentators on the internet, in relative terms the freest public space in China.

Beijing's formal protest and the demand for concrete steps from France make it more difficult to bring exchanges with the European Union back on track. China had called off a summit with the EU after Mr Sarkozy announced his plan to meet the exiled Tibetan leader during his term as EU president.

The French president defended his 30-minute meeting with the Dalai Lama on Saturday in Gdansk, Poland, but appealed to China not to overplay its significance. “I am free as the French president and the EU president, I have values and convictions. Let's not make things tense, the world doesn't need it and it doesn't correspond to reality,” he said. Christine Lagarde, French finance minister, played down the spat, calling it a “minor incident” and saying that it was “in everyone's interest that this relationship continues”.