The recent felicitation of the Dalai Lama by the Chancellor has caused some consternation in the foreign policy think tank circle in Germany, with China cancelling official level meetings in protest.

“It has been a setback to relations with China. They have cancelled delegation level meetings. The government must decide if they want to anger the Chinese or if they want them to co-operate” Prof Eberhard Sandschneider of the German Council on Foreign Relations and a China expert said.

Merkel’s advisors, however, feel that China will come around eventually to restoring normalcy. “Some civil servant level meetings have been cancelled but we don’t expect China to act in a tougher way,” the Director General of foreign policy and security advisor Christoph Heusgen said.