China has has pulled out of an upcoming summit with the European Union, blaming the French president for planning to meet the Dalai Lama.

Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to meet the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader had "deprived the EU-China summit of the required good atmosphere and made it impossible for it to obtain the anticipated result", the Chinese foreign ministry said on its website on Thursday.

"We resolutely oppose the Dalai travelling to other countries in any capacity to carry out activities aimed at splitting China. We resolutely oppose foreign leaders having any form of contact with the Dalai," Qin said.

Despite Chinese protests, Luc Chatel, a spokesman for the French government, said on Wednesday that the meeting with the Dalai Lama scheduled for late next week, would go ahead.

Sarkozy was to have hosted the EU-China summit on Monday in the southern French city of Lyon and Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, had been due to attend.

China has long sought to isolate the Dalai Lama from international support, accusing him of trying split China and blaming him for inciting anti-Chinese riots in Tibet earlier this year.

The Dalai Lama ruled out retirement after exiled Tibetans agreed at a summit last week to maintain the "middle way" which seeks autonomy rather than outright independence from China, despite the 73-year-old Nobel Peace laureate admitting recently that the 20-year-old strategy had been a "failure".

More than 500 exiled Tibetans met in Dharamsala, India, to review the Tibetan policy towards China and a majority supported the "middle way".

However they also said they would seek independence if China refused to grant Tibet autonomy within a reasonable amount of time.