A meeting between US President Obama and the Dalai Lama has caused bad feeling in Beijing. Photograph: Pete Souza/White House

China has expressed its concerns at the meeting yesterday (Thursday 18 February) between exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama and US President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington DC.

The President welcomed his fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate to the White House, but hosted the meeting in the Map Room, rather than the much-more-photographed Oval Office where presidents usually visit with international leaders. He did this out of deference to China, and stressed that the visit was of a personal nature rather than political.

Their talks were held entirely out of view of cameras and the public. Instead, the White House only released just a single White House photo and a short written statement.

“The president commended the Dalai Lama’s ‘Middle Way’ approach, his commitment to nonviolence and his pursuit of dialogue with the Chinese government,” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Speaking outside afterwards to reporters, the Dalai Lama declared himself “very happy” with the session. They spoke about the promotion of human value, religious harmony, a greater leadership role for women around the world and the concerns of the Tibetan people – he said Obama was “very much supportive.”

Beijing considers the Buddhist monk a separatist, and believes that official foreign contact with him infringes on Beijing’s sovereignty over Tibet. However, the Dalai Lama has met with every US president since 1991, mostly in private encounters. Although he is revered in much of the world, Beijing accuses him of seeking to overthrow Chinese rule and restore a feudal theocracy in the expansive mountainous region.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu responded to the meeting in a statement: “The action of the US side has seriously interfered in China’s internal affairs, seriously hurt the national feelings of the Chinese people, and seriously undermined China-US relations.

“China requests the US side to take China’s position seriously, take prompt and effective measures to remove the malign impact, stop the connivance and support of the anti-China splittist forces for “Tibet Independence”, and stop the interference in China’s internal affairs by taking concrete actions to maintain the healthy and stable development of China-US relations.”

The US is keen not to overly anger China at a time when its cooperation is needed on nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea, climate change and other priorities. Despite China’s angry words, five American warships were allowed to dock for a port call in Hong Kong on Wednesday, so perhaps neither “side” wishes relations to worsen.