China foreign minister urges US not to interfere with Tibet in call to Kerry

BEIJING, June 19 (Reuters) - The United States should not interfere in China's internal affairs on matters related to Tibet, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a phone call on Saturday.

According to an account of the call posted on the Chinese foreign ministry website, Kerry reaffirmed that there was no change in the U.S. policy that Tibet is a part of China and that the U.S. does not support Tibetan independence.

The phone call follows on from President Barack Obama's meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, last week at the White House despite China warning it would damage diplomatic relations.

China views the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist. The meeting came at a time of already heightened tensions between the U.S. and China over Beijing's pursuit of territorial claims in East Asia.

On the call, Wang and Kerry also discussed the success of the recently concluded bilateral Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing, according to the foreign ministry posting, which did not give specifics.