PM's Pledge to Meet Dalai Lama Draws Beijing's Ire

China said today it was "seriously concerned" by Gordon Brown's decision to meet the Dalai Lama when he visits London in May.

The prime minister earlier told MPs in the Commons he plans to meet the spiritual leader and urged Beijing to exercise restraint in its handling of the situation in Tibet.

But the official Xinhua news agency reported the Chinese government was unhappy with the decision, which Brown made after mounting pressure from human rights activists and opposition parties.

At prime minister's questions he had said he had spoken to the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, this morning and made it "absolutely clear" there had to be an end to the violence in Tibet.

He told MPs he called on Wen to show "restraint" and seek "resolution by dialog".

And he added: "I will meet the Dali Lama when he is in London."

And he added: "I will meet the Dali Lama when he is in London."The Tibetian spiritual leader is expected to visit Britain in May.

The Tory leader, David Cameron, told the prime minister he had made the right decision and congratulated him for "doing the right thing".Brown said he made the right decision "at all times".

The decision meet the Dali Lama is an attempt to respond to increasing pressure from human rights activists, and to try to balance Brown's plans to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

British officials are resisting any talk of an Olympic boycott, but acknowledge that pressure for a boycott may rise as news emerges from Tibet about China's crackdown against the protesters.

The British fear is that a common US and European position that sport and politics should not mix will begin to crumble, and that could have knock-on effects when London hosts the Olympics in four years' time.

The Brown government is also anxious about undoing all the bridge-building work done during visits to China by the prime minister and the foreign secretary, David Miliband, who recently spent a week in the country.

The Chinese are likely to react furiously to a meeting with the Dalai Lama, who they denounced today as "a wolf in monk's robes".