Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi yesterday summoned US Ambassador to China Clark T. Randt to lodge a strong protest against the US awarding the Dalai Lama with a "Congressional Gold Medal".

"The move is a blatant interference in China's internal affairs. It has hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and gravely undermined bilateral relations," ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular news briefing yesterday.

He urged Washington to immediately take effective measures to remove "the terrible effects of its erroneous act and stop conniving with, and supporting, 'Tibet independence' secessionist forces".