China warned the US yesterday that any meeting between President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama would further damage relations, in the latest sign of the deteriorating political mood between Beijing and Washington.

Speaking on the day Beijing restated its pledge to impose sanctions on US companies that sell arms to Taiwan, a senior Chinese official said that meeting the Dalai Lama was not in the interests of the US at a time when it was trying to recover from the financial crisis.

“If the US leader chooses this period 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 Zhu Weiqun, a vice-minister who handles Beijing's contacts with the Dalai Lama.