BEIJING: China warned other countries today to shun the Dalai Lama or risk serious damage to their bilateral ties with Beijing, after officials in the Polish capital of Warsaw voted to honour the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Beijing considers the Dalai Lama an agent of Tibet’s independence efforts from China and is dead against all the meetings between the Dalai Lama and foreign leaders.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Beijing remains opposed to “foreign political figures having official exchanges with the Dalai Lama.”

Without mentioning Poland, Qin said, “Any irresponsible move taken by whatever country on this

issue will constitute gross intervention in China’s internal affairs and will certainly seriously damage China’s relations with the relevant countries.”