China lashed out at US President George Bush's meeting with the Dalai Lama, calling the meeting a "gross interference" in its internal affairs.

"China is strongly resentful of this and resolutely opposes it, and has made repeated solemn representations to the US side," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said yesterday.

He again urged the US side to correct its wrongdoings and stop interfering in China's internal affairs in any form.

Liu said such a meeting "seriously violated" the norms of international relations and gravely hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.

"It is a gross interference in China's internal affairs," Liu added.

Liu's remarks were the latest response in a string of Chinese protests about the decision to award the Dalai Lama the US Congressional Gold Medal in a public ceremony earlier yesterday.

Despite stern warnings from Beijing, Bush met with the Dalai Lama in the White House on Tuesday

The meeting is the third since Bush took office in January 2001, but the first public appearance with the Dalai Lama for a sitting US president.

Liu reiterated that Tibet is an inalienable part of China, saying China is firmly against any country and any people using this issue to interfere with its internal affairs.

"The words and deeds of the Dalai Lama in past decades have demonstrated that he is a political refugee engaged in secessionist activities under the camouflage of religion," Liu said, adding that any attempt to interfere in China's internal affairs using the Dalai issue is "doomed to failure".

"Chinese people's resolve to safeguard the nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity is firm and unshakeable."

(China Daily October 18, 2007)