The Chinese government has called in Canada's ambassador to Beijing to express its displeasure over the Dalai Lama's VIP treatment by Ottawa.
The Globe and Mail reported Friday that China's embassy has confirmed the meeting between Ambassador Robert Wright and China's Foreign Ministry.
Details of the meeting aren't available, and Canada's Foreign Affairs Department won't discuss the matter.
China views the Tibetan spiritual leader as a separatist who is attempting to undermine Chinese national sovereignty.
The Chinese government has referred to Canada's actions -- such as Prime Minister Stephen Harper receiving the Dalai Lama in his Parliament Hill office on Monday -- as "disgusting conduct."
"It's gross interference in China's internal affairs. The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao declared earlier this week in Beijing.
"This disgusting conduct has seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and undermined Sino-Canadian relations," he said.
In Ottawa, the Dalai Lama repeated that he only seeks autonomy for Tibet within a sovereign China and is not interested in separation.
While calling in an ambassador is considered a strong signal of displeasure, one pro-Tibet activist in Canada noted that China signed a $590-million deal with Bombardier this week to supply rail cars.
There is some speculation that China may cancel some planned meetings between Canadian and Chinese government officials as a further means of expressing its displeasure.
The Chinese embassy has also announced that a group of five "Tibetologists" will make stops in Canada and the U.S. to "engage in some exchanges with the local scholars."
Other national governments have held face-to-face meetings with the Dalai Lama, and China has also expressed its diplomatic displeasure with them.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry called in Germany's Ambassador Michael Schaeffer before Chancellor Angela Merkel met with the Dalai Lama in September.
China lodged a protest with U.S. Ambassador Clark Randt one day after President George Bush met with the Dalai Lama.
The U.S. also honoured the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal.
In Canada's case, the Dalai Lama remains just one friction point between China and Ottawa.
Earlier this year, China sentenced Huseyin Celil, a Chinese-born ethnic Uighur who is now a Canadian citizen, to life in prison for "separatist activities."
Celil has alleged links to groups seeking independence for Xinjiang, a region in western China where the Muslim Uighurs are the main ethnic group.
China has refused to recognize Celil's Canadian citizenship.
