China has warned India of serious damage to relations between the two countries if it should grant asylum to the Karmapa Lama, the 14-year-old Buddhist spiritual leader who recently fled Tibet.

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    The Karmapa Lama reached India over the weekend after trekking through the Himalayas. He is staying in Dharmsala, the headquarters of the Dalai Lama in northern India.

    A foreign office spokesman in Beijing has asked India to keep Sino-Indian relations in mind before making a decision on whether to grant asylum.

    In response the Indian minister of state for foreign affairs said India would make a decision "guided by good neighbourly relations."

    This suggests Indian may ask another country to grant asylum to the Karmapa Lama.

    Julia Taft, a special co-ordinator for Tibet in the U.S. State Department met the Karmapa Lama on Wednesday, suggesting that the United States might grant him asylum.

    The suggestion comes on the same day that the U.S. government launched an international campaign concerning human rights in China.

    It wants to have China's record harshly criticized by the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

    China is angrily denouncing the U.S. campaign as unacceptable interference in its internal affairs.