China strongly opposed U.S. President Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama and urged the United States to take concrete measures to ensure the healthy development of bilateral ties in the future.

On February 19, Ma Zhaoxu, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, said in a statement: "The U.S. act grossly violated the norms governing international relations and ran counter to the principles set forth in the three China-U.S. joint communiqués and the China-U.S. joint statement."

The meeting also went against repeated commitments from the U.S. Government that recognize Tibet as part of China and give no support to "Tibet independence," Ma said.

Obama met with the Dalai Lama in the White House Map Room on February 18.