The White House has announced on President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama would meet on February 18th, despite China's warning that such talks could hurt already-strained Sino-US relations.
In a swift response, Beijing urged Mr Obama to "immediately" scrap the planned White House meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, China's state news agency Xinhua said.
The Dalai Lama's visit is likely to set off a new round of sniping from Beijing, already at odds with Washington over issues from trade to currencies to US arms sales to Taiwan.
But the Obama administration is ready to weather China's displeasure over the Dalai Lama and expects its response to be no worse than in the past, "which is to criticise it and then we move on," a senior US official said.
"The Dalai Lama is an internationally respected religious leader and spokesman for Tibetan rights, and the president looks forward to an engaging and constructive dialogue," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Mindful of Chinese sensibilities, Mr Obama had held off meeting the Dalai Lama, until after the president first saw Chinese leaders during a trip to Asia in November, a delay that angered some US lawmakers and human rights groups.
But the White House made clear in recent days it would shrug off China's opposition and go ahead with the visit. All that was left was to set the date for the meeting with the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing regards as a dangerous separatist responsible for fomenting unrest in Tibet.
Tensions over the Dalai Lama and other issues have raised worries China might retaliate by obstructing US efforts in other areas, such as imposing tougher sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.
But Mr Gibbs insisted the relationship between the United States and China - the world's largest and third-biggest economies - is "mature enough" to find common ground on issues of mutual interest despite disagreements on other topics.
Reuters