Obama’s meeting in the White House on Thursday with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled leader, has been criticized by China, which accused Obama of "seriously damaging" ties between the two superpowers.

Obama and the Dalai Lama’s meeting, has further complicated the turbulence prevailing in the year, including tension with Beijing over U. S. weapons sales Taiwan, China's currency policies, trade disputes and Internet censorship issues.

“The U. S. act amounted to serious interference in Chinese domestic affairs, and has seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and seriously damaged China-U. S. relations", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ma Zhaoxu said.

Obama encouraged China and the Dalai Lama's envoys to keep up efforts to resolve their differences through negotiations, despite little progress having been yielded from recent talks.

In the meeting at the White House, Mr. Obama stated his strong support for the preservation of Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity and the protection of human rights for Tibetans in the People's Republic of China.

China voting in favor of United Nations sanctions on Iran and China's President Hu Jintao, attending an international summit on nuclear security that Mr Obama is hosting in April, will decide the turn of the future events.